Magnolia guard Mark Barroca is glad to add another milestone to his already colorful career but he’s keeping his eyes on the true gauge of success in the league – the championship.
The 5-foot-10 playmaker joined an elite company in the 5000-point PBA club after dropping 24 points in the Hotshots’ 98-89 win over the NLEX Road Warrior to take Game 1 of their best-of-three quarterfinals affair.
He is the 90th local to achieve the feat, 13th among the active players and 94th including the imports.
“Nagpapasalamat ako sa Panginoon sa career ko ngayon nakakuha ako ngayon ng 5000 points. Pasalamat ako di lang sa akin kundi pati kay coach and sa mga teammates ko di naman dahil sa kanila di ko maabot to,” said Barroca.
Despite achieving the feat, Barroca insisted that claiming the All-Filipino Cup title remains to be his focus and not the personal milestones.
“Wala naman ako hinahangad kundi mag champion,” said Barroca. Binuo ‘yung team na ito di lang para makuha yung mga awards. Bonus lang yung mga award pero yung goal namin is manalo talaga ng championship,” he added.
Proof to Barroca’s eagerness to return to the promised land was his scintillating performance in the first two quarters with 18 points – his career-high in the first half and tied for his second most points scored in a half.
Barroca stressed that they cannot start the game flat against a team like NLEX especially now that they have little room for error in the playoffs.
“Pag inistart ako ni coach, pag may nilagay si coach na starters dapat mindset talaga namin mag set ng tone,” he explained. “Especially NLEX nga, lahat ng laban namin ng NLEX lagi kaming slow start sa kanila nagpipick up na lang kami pag second half.”
“Ngayon yung mindset namin dapat strong start talaga kami,” he furthered.