The United States U19 basketball team won the FIBA gold medal game 82-68 Sunday night against Serbia and -- you guessed it -- Aaron Gordon was named Most Valuable Player of the games.
The Archbishop Mitty High of San Jose grad and University of Arizona-bound big man averaged 12.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, two steals and 61.2 percent from the floor in his team's march to the title that was clinched in Prague, Czech Republic.
Here are comments from Gordon published on the USA Basketball web site that he made regarding the victory:
"It's extremely satisfying because we didn’t just come here and blow out all the competition, it was actually a hard-fought game both times we played Serbia. So, to know that there are other very developed teams out there in the world and know that we’re the most developed, just means a lot, it’s a big step for the USA."
Regarding being named MVP: "I was surprised when I was named all-tournament and once I got all-tournament I thought ‘hey maybe I can get MVP too, here’ and then they said my name, I really didn’t even hear them say my name at first I had to ask my teammates. But I’m very honored."
Gordon's prep accomplishments have been well-documented ... led Mitty to four consecutive section titles, three NorCal Regional titles, three state title games -- the Monarchs won two of them -- twice named the CalHiSports.com Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year, MVP of the prestigious McDonald's All-American Game, etc.
Now he has a little more bling for his trophy collection and still another MVP award for his impressive resume.
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Reach John Murphy at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com and follow him @PrepCat.
