BG’s Harmon wins gold with USA Basketball
Published 10:54 pm Sunday, June 18, 2017
- Bowling Green’s Zion Harmon reads the floor for the USA Basketball U16 National Team in the gold medal game against Canada on Sunday during the FIBA Americas U16 Championships for Men in Formosa, Argentia.
Bowling Green’s Zion Harmon added a gold medal to a phenomenal resume for 2017.
The rising Purples freshman scored 12 points in helping the USA Basketball U16 National Team defeat Canada 111-60 in the gold medal game Sunday in the FIBA Americas Championships for Men in Formosa, Argentina.
Harmon earned a spot on the starting lineup and logged 23 minutes in the win. He made 5-of-6 shots from the field and dished out a team-high six assists.
The USA U16 National Team went 4-0 in the tournament and won every game by at least 49 points.
As an eighth-grader, Harmon averaged 16.8 points per game for Bowling Green and helped the school win its first basketball state championship. Last month, he became the first eighth-grader to be invited to USA Basketball’s U16 National Team training camp and eventually made the cut to the 12-man roster.
Harmon played alongside 11 teammates who will graduate a year or two before him, but the 5-foot-11 guard – regarded as one of the top eighth-graders in the country – played a consistent role in earning the U.S. a gold medal.
He averaged 11.4 points, 3.2 assists and 1.6 rebounds over five games. His best game came against Mexico with 17 points, five assists and three steals. For the tournament, he shot 52.5 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from 3-point range.
Playing on an international stage was a step up this summer from the domestic exposure Harmon is already enjoying. The summer before joining Bowling Green, Harmon became the first seventh-grader to compete on the 17U circuit of the Nike EYBL. He averaged 12.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game for Boo Williams AAU in Virginia.
According to his Instagram, Harmon already has offers from Western Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State, Creighton and Stephen F. Austin.