Blackwater rookie Barefield sparks Bossing's resurgence

MANILA, Philippines – The Blackwater Bossing are gratefully harnessing the potential of their celebrated rookie Sedrick Barefield. 

The Filipino-American guard, whom coach Jeff Cariaso had described as a “game-changer” before picking him No. 2 overall in the PBA Season 49 Rookie Draft, played a key role as the Bossing went on a resurgence after a 0-3 start to a 3-3 slate in Group B of the Governors’ Cup standings.

Barefield fired a conference-high 32 points spiked by a 55% field goal shooting to help Blackwater post a 123-111 victory over Phoenix. He capped his heroics with a crucial three-point play, a tough jumper and a split that quelled the Fuel Masters’ furious rally from 21 points down. 

The G-League veteran then shot 14 in a follow up 110-99 romp over NLEX, firing two early triples that enabled the Bossing to seize control at the onset, 8-2, before holding on until the final buzzer. 

For his strong performance, Barefield earned the nod as the PBA Press Corps-Pilipinas Live Player of the Week for the period of September 3-8. 

“I feel like I'm just being more of myself and that just comes with trust in my guys, my teammates and Coach,” the 6-foot-2 Barefield said. He snared credit with his Blackwater brothers in arms, particularly the backcourt, for his stellar play. 

“I mean everybody's doing their job at a high level…we just have you know a lot of guards that just make the game easy like Kib (Montalbo) and RK (Ilagan) and so it's just fun playing with those guys,” he said. 

Barefield, who averaged 23 points, five assists, 1.5 rebounds and 1 steal in those two Ws, edged San Miguel Beer titan June Mar Fajardo, Meralco’s Chris Banchero and Barangay Ginebra’s Stephen Holt for the weekly honor given by the group of men and women covering the PBA beat.