Barefield’s confidence gets boost

Blackwater rookie Sedrick Barefield during a PBA Governors’ Cup game against GInebra Gin Kings. –PBA IMAGES

Of the first-round draft picks currently playing in the PBA Governors’ Cup, only two rookies have yet to win a single game. One of those is the highly-touted Sedrick Barefield.

That changed most spectacularly on Friday night.

Struggling to hit a groove for most of the night, Barefield hit a deep four-pointer with 31.2 ticks remaining to seal Blackwater’s 95-88 triumph over fancied Barangay Ginebra, as the second overall pick in the last Draft ended a fruitless start to the conference that also helped the Bossing end a five-year losing streak to the crowd darlings.

“I mean to get it against them (Ginebra); that’s probably the best way,” the Filipino-American guard, who has played overseas before joining the PBA, told reporters when asked about notching his first-ever win in Asia’s pioneering pro league.

“Obviously, we wanted to win the first game, second game, third game. But I think God just has different plans for everybody. The journey, sometimes, is just up and down,” he went on.

Blackwater dropped its first three games to open the tournament, and Barefield had been inconsistent throughout, hardly living up to coach Jeff Cariaso’s high praises.

The 27-year-old guard, who had stints in Greece, Lithuania, Taiwan, and the NBA G-League, is just glad that the dry spell is done.

Before his dagger, Barefield had just nine points, and was 5-for-15 from the field.

So to be able to finally hit a critical shot to put to bed a game against a squad many felt was simply going to breeze past them? It was obvious that Barefield was going to celebrate.

“It’s huge for me. It feels great. I wasn’t having the best shooting night. I was having a tough time finding my spots, picking my spots. So, making that shot was big,” he said as he definitely will be a marked man against Ginebra in their second group play meeting.