San Joaquin Memorial star Jalen Green helps US U-17 to gold and is named MVP

San Joaquin Memorial High junior guard Jalen Green did plenty of damage at the FIBA U-17 World Cup in Argentina.

Green finished with 11 points, helping the U.S. national team to a 95-52 victory over France in the gold medal game on Sunday.

Leading up to the final he scored 27 and 25 points respectively against Croatia and Canada and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

“Last year, we came down here, played together and Vernon (Carey Jr.) got the MVP,” Green told reporters. “I came out here, showed off my hard work and it worked.”

Green had a putback dunk to make the score 84-51 late in the third quarter against France..

Heading into the gold medal game, Green was the U.S. scoring leader at 16.5 points per game as the Americans went 7-0.

Green, listed at 6-foot-6, helped the U-16 national team to a gold medal in 2017 to secure a spot on the U-17 team.

Team USA U-17 is now a five-time U-17 gold medalist with an all-time record 37-0.

“We came out and played defense,” Green said. “Coach was preaching defense, so that was the main thing. We stayed solid and were able to win the gold medal.”

Green, rated by many as the nation’s best in the Class of 2020, had 22 points in a 74-66 victory over Selma in the Central Section Division II championship. This past season, he averaged 27.9 points per game and 7.7 rebounds for Memorial.

This story was originally published July 8, 2018 at 7:32 PM.