PBA: Blackwater rookie Barefield earns Player of the Week nod

Blackwater guard Sedrick Barefield in action against Barangay Ginebra in the 2024 PBA Governors' Cup, September 10, 2024 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. PBA Images

MANILA -- Sedrick Barefield is living up to the "game-changer" tag that his coach placed on him even before he was selected second overall by the Blackwater Bossing in the PBA Season 49 Rookie Draft.

The Filipino-American guard has played a huge role in the Bossing's resurgence after a 0-3 start to the 2024 PBA Governors' Cup.

Before a loss to Barangay Ginebra on Tuesday night, Blackwater had won three straight games in Group B to get back in contention in the conference, with Barefield emerging as one of the team's on-court leaders.

The rookie fired a conference-high 32 points spiked by a 55-percent 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. 

READ: King, Barefield shine as Blackwater fends off Phoenix

READ: Blackwater powers past NLEX, now 3-0 with George King

For his strong performance, Barefield earned the nod as the PBA Press Corps-Pilipinas Live Player of the Week for the period of Sept. 3 to 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 as he shared 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.