After a flat start, Magnolia picked up the slack and strung two straight wins to get in the thick of things in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The Hotshots began their campaign at 0-3 with losses to Converge, TNT, and San Miguel Beer before regaining their footing just in time with big wins over Phoenix Super LPG and reigning champion Barangay Ginebra to go up in the middle of the standings at 2-3.
Veteran guard Mark Barroca captained Magnolia’s ship back on track behind his brilliant plays on both ends of the floor in the two wins, with new import Antonio Hester also making his presence felt.
The 36-year-old Zamboanga City native carded 20.0 points on 62-percent accuracy along, with 3.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.0 steals as the Hotshots dominated their last two games behind a winning margin of 21.5 points.
With his heroics, the two-time Finals MVP earned the Cignal Play-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period Feb. 8-12.
A fifth selection in the 2011draft, the former Gilas Pilipinas mainstay sizzled for 19 points, three rebounds, four assists, and two steals in 24 minutes of action as Magnolia made quick work of Phoenix, 108-95.
Magnolia led by as many as 27 points during the match, a feat it would even surpass against archrival Ginebra in another chapter of the storied Manila Clasico over the weekend at the Mall of Asia Arena.
With over 11,000 fans in attendance, the Hotshots turned the highly-anticipated duel into a blowout by leading by as much as 31 points before settling for a 118-88 count to deal the defending champion its first loss of the conference.
The 5’10” Barroca, once again, stamped his class on the big stage with 21 points, three boards, three assists and two steals for another all-around play.
That’s on top of his defensive duties taking on Ginebra’s dreaded backcourt combo of Scottie Thompson, Stanley Pringle, Jeremiah Gray, and LA Tenorio.
Barroca eclipsed TNT’s Mikey Williams and Rain or Shine’s Nick Demusis for the weekly citation being handed out by the group of print and online media regularly covering the PBA beat.