The Dragons wound up third in the EASL Champions Week, thanks in part to the Filipino-American cager.
Bay Area Dragons coach Brian Goorjian had nothing but praises for Sedrick Barefield.
“I think he’s a tremendous talent,” said Goorjian of the Filipino-American cager.
“As soon as he started training with us, he fit and he’s good for us.”
Indeed, the 6-foot-2 guard looked comfortable with the Dragons, and it was evident in their game against the Ryukyu Golden Kings in the EASL Champions Week on Sunday.
While Myles Powell and Andrew Nicholson remained the focal point of the Dragons’ offense, Barefield made his presence felt and ended up with 17 points in the convincing 90-70 over the Golden Kings.
With the win, Bay Area wound up third in the regional league.
“The issue was, coming into this, zero game for him with our group,” said the veteran coach, who added his prized cager had little touches early in the competition.
“The first game was more my fault than his fault. Everything went to Myles’ side, he didn't touch the ball.”
This was no longer a surprise for the concurrent coach of the Australian national team. After all, he had been exposed to Philippine basketball after joining the PBA Commissioner’s Cup where they ended up as runners up to Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings.
As part of the buildup for the EASL, the Dragons stayed on and had a series of tuneup games with college teams in the Philippines.
“The Philippines have some tremendous basketball players playing all over the world. And my stroke on this, it was one of the best experiences, and what a great thing for our team to play in the PBA,” he said.
“What they learned from there is instrumental. We were treated sensationally. I’ve been coaching all my life I’ve never been in a 55,000 seat before,” he added, referring to Game 7 of the finals against crowd favorite Ginebra.