EARLY in this tournament, the Barako Bull Energy has defied the odds, winning their first two games in the PBA Philippine Cup.
At the center of that resurgence has been wingman Ronjay Buenafe, who was named as the Player of the Week for the period of Nov. 18 to 24.
The 6-foot-2 Buenafe averaged 19 points in Barako Bull’s surprising start to this season, anchoring their wins over Air21 (88-75) and then Alaska (97-93). More impressive was Buenafe’s hot shooting from beyond the arc where he made 10 of his 17 attempts.
That streak allowed him to beat out the likes of Petron’s Arwind Santos, Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and GlobalPort’s Terrence Romeo.
Against the Aces last Sunday, Buenafe was simply on fire as he canned seven three-pointers en route to tallying 27 points. He capped that performance off with a tough layup with just seconds remaining in the game that overhauled a 15-point fourth quarter deficit. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio