No. 2 overall pick Sedrick Barefield put up his best game so far for Blackwater in the PBA Governors' Cup.
It appears that Sedrick Barefield is becoming the go-to-guy for the Blackwater Bossing in the clutch.
In another strong outing, Barefield finished with a conference-high 32 points, including dousing a late Phoenix rally to propel the Bossing to their first winning streak in the ongoing PBA Governors’ Cup.
[ALSO READ: PBA: Sedrick Barefield takes charge as Blackwater spoils Brandone Francis’ debut for Phoenix in Governors' Cup]
As Phoenix cut its deficit to single digits at 109-104 with 5:07 left, Barefield scored on a three-point play and sank a tough jumper, before a split from the line had the Bossing stretching their lead to double digits again, 115-104.
Earlier, Barefield also flaunted his clutch genes when the no. 2 pick of this year’s Draft hit a crucial four-pointer that helped Blackwater snap a five-year losing skid against the Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel.
[ALSO READ: PBA: New Blackwater import George King steers Bossing to first win at Ginebra’s expense]
Asked what is working on his recent games, Barefield expressed he was just playing his game, and his good performance comes along with trusting his teammates.
“I feel like I’m just being more of myself and that comes with trusting our guys,” he said.
“We did our job on high level today so its just attributed to just trusting my guys and hard work,” Barefield added.
Barefield specifically credited teammates Kib Montalbo and RK Ilagan, who he shared responsibilities with as Blackwater’s lead guards.
“Everybody is doing their job on a high level. Kib [Montalbo], RK [Ilagan]. We just have a lot of guards that make the game easy. It’s fun playing along those guys.”
The victory also helped the Bossing give new Phoenix import Brandone Francis a rude PBA welcome, as the Fuel Masters saw his near-triple double of 45 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists go to waste.
Blackwater head coach Jeffrey Cariaso lauded his own import in George King, who finished with a team-high 44 points, on his ability to go toe-to-toe against Francis.
“I think what happened there is George King,” Cariaso said.
“Him stepping up and matching not just the points and all the numbers that Francis brought, but he matched the energy, the [way he] defends and do all things that we talked about in practice.”