Sophomore PG comes up big for Centennial

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CORONA, Ca. – After two rather ho-hum games, it figured that the third time – eh, game – would proved the charm Thursday night at Centennial High.

And that was the case as the host Huskies – trailed by double-figure margins in the third quarter – pulled out a scintillating 82-75 victory, in overtime, against Inglewood during the first-ever Tip-Off at the Empire Invitational.

In those earlier tilts, Westwind Prep Academy (via Phoenix) toppled Rialto Eisenhower, 74-52, followed by Etiwanda’s 60-43 victory over Compton.

Friday night’s Gold Division semifinals tip off at 7 o’clock with top seed Westwind Academy taking on Inglewood and then Centennial playing host to Etiwanda at 8:30.

The championship in the division gets underway at 8:15 Saturday evening.

Last season Centennial’s Sedrick Barefield was often referred to as “one of the best freshmen point guards in California” and he came into this season touted as “one of the best sophomore point guards in the state”.

It’s time the class-rating qualifier be removed in describing Barefield.

He clearly demonstrated that he’s one of the better high school point guards anywhere while leading the Huskies to the hard-fought victory over a veteran – and very gifted – Sentinels club.

Barefield scored a team-high 25 points, had at least 10 assists (by my very unofficial count) and did as solid a job, defensively, while trying to check Inglewood’s Brandon Randolph.

The 6-foot-2 Randolph, a transferring from Playa del Rey St. Bernard, scored 27 points – many of which were of the spectacular variety, including a 3-pointer with five seconds to go that send things into overtime.

UC Riverside-bound Sam Finley and Long Beach Jordan Deontae North were other Huskies who played well, while Randolph’s backcourt mate, Randy Onwuasor, also had some terrific moments.

Etiwanda jumped out to a very quick double-figure advantage (17-5) and was never threatened by the Tarbabes.

Jordan McLaughlin led the Eagles with 16 points, including consecutive deep 3s from the left wing to get his team rolling.

McLaughlin – just a junior – will likely be matched against Barefield during a big portion of Friday night’s semifinal. It could prove to be one of the best individual showdowns of the week-long season.

Westwind has three of the better juniors within Arizona in 6-10 Arizona State-bound Connor MacDougal, 6-7 Zylan Cheatham and 6-2 Tate de Laveaga. Each impressed Thursday night.