Showing his veteran smarts and leadership at the start of the brand new conference, Star playmaker Mark Barroca emerged as the second Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week after leading the Hotshots to a 2-0 start in the 2017 Commissioner’s Cup.
The 5-10 Barroca beat Star teammate Peter June Simon, Meralco young guard Baser Amer and Jared Dillinger, Rain or Shine sophomore point guard Maverick Ahanmishi, Mahindra’s Ryan Araña, Alaska rookie forward Carl Cruz and TNT’s Jayson Castro for the weekly citation.
Stepping up in place of combo guard Paul Lee, who is playing through a knee injury, Barroca came off the bench to provide the much needed spark, firing 17 points and adding 2 steals in 23 minutes as Star debuted this conference with a 101-82 rout of Phoenix last Wednesday.
Three days later, Barroca churned out an all-around effort of 8 points, 5 rebounds, the same number of assists and 2 steals, while helping Star contain 2-time PBA scoring champion Terrence Romeo in a runaway 103-77 demolition of GlobalPort.