Star’s Barroca is PBA Player of the Week
MANILA--Star point guard Mark Barroca is the second recipient of the PBA Player of the Week award for the 2017 Commissioner’s Cup after he helped steer the Hotshots to a 2-0 start in the midseason conference.
Barroca beat out his Star teammate PJ Simon, the Meralco pair of Jared Dillinger and Baser Amer, Rain or Shine’s Maverick Ahanmisi, Mahindra’s Ryan Araña, Alaska’s Carl Bryan Cruz, and TNT’s Jayson Castro for the citation for the period of March 20-26.
With combo guard Paul Lee still dealing with a knee injury, Barroca has stepped up for Star while showcasing his veteran smarts and leadership. He came off the bench to fire 17 points on top of two steals in 23 minutes in Star’s 101-82 rout of Phoenix last Wednesday.
Three days later, Barroca churned out an all-around effort of eight points, five rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while also helping the Hotshots contain two-time scoring champion Terrence Romeo in a 103-77 demolition of GlobalPort.
The Hotshots joined the Meralco Bolts (3-0), defending champion Rain or Shine (3-0) and Alaska (2-0) as the unbeaten teams in the conference.
San Miguel Beer and Barangay Ginebra are the only two teams that have yet to see action in the Commissioner’s Cup, after figuring in a best-
of-seven Finals series in the Philippine Cup last month.
Barroca, the 2014 Philippine Cup Finals MVP, is expected to play a bigger role for the Hotshots, who are looking to make a fitting follow-up to its semifinal appearance in the All-Filipino Cup, where they lost to Barangay Ginebra in seven games.
Star returns to action on Friday against NLEX at the Araneta Coliseum. Abs-cbnnews