Kansas-bound Darryn Peterson and Duke-bound Cameron Boozer are named co-MVPs at the 2025 McDonald’s All-American Game in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The best in high school basketball participated in the 48th annual McDonald’s All-American Game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening. It was the first time the rotating site event has taken place in New York City since 2002 when the game was played at historic Madison Square Garden. That year was the first time a girls game was added to the festivities.
Two of the best players in the country had big outings for their respective clubs and it was the West All-Stars that recorded a 105-92 victory over the East All-Stars. Darryn Peterson, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard headed to Kansas, led the West club with a game-high 18 points along with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. There is a growing faction of scouts and NBA personnel who feel Peterson, who played his senior season for FAB 50 No. 9 Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.), is the best prospect in the top-heavy 2025 class.
He was named co-MVP along with the West’s Cameron Boozer, who finished with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Boozer, headed for Duke along with his twin brother Cayden, who also played in the game (6 points, 4 assists), was cheered on by all of his teammates at FAB 50 No. 1 Columbus (Miami, Fla.). Cam Boozer, the 2023 Mr. Basketball USA, this year’s Gatorade National Player of the Year and the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year honoree by McDonald’s, is in the running for Mr. Basketball USA this season along with Peterson and A.J. Dybanta, the 6-foot-9 wing from FAB 50 No. 23 Utah Prep (Hurrincane, Utah). Dybansta scored 17 points and had five rebounds for the West club.
All three players are expected to go high in the 2026 NBA Draft, as the McDonald’s All-American game is filled with a Who’s Who of NBA alumni and former No. 1 picks such as LeBron James and Kevin Garnett, among a vast list of others. For Peterson and Boozer, however, the season is not over as they will travel from Brooklyn to Indianapolis tomorrow to participate in Chipotle Nationals, the end-of-season tourney that is always influential in determining the No. 1 team in the FAB 50.
After not being very competitive for a number of years, the top individual all-star game in high school basketball has turned that around after the two years (2020 and 2021) in which the event didn’t take place because of COVID-19. In recent years, the game has been quite competitive and this year was no different, as the West snapped a four-game losing streak, winning for the first time since 2018.
Headlining that competitive spirit was 6-foot-5, Baylor-bound Toude Yessoufou of FAB 50 No. 15 St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.), California’s all-time leading scorer with a career 3,659 points. Yessoufou impressed in the scrimmage and game with his defense, intensity, and willingness to crash the boards and finish with authority. He scored nine points for the West club. Another California 3,000 point sorer, USC-bound Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth (Calif.), added 11 points, as did Houston-bound Chris Cenac Jr. of FAB 50 No. 2 Link Academy (Branson, Mo.).
Isiah Harwell, a talented shooting guard out of FAB 50 No. 8 Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) also headed to Houston, tied Boozer for a team-high 16 points for the East club. No other player besides Boozer hit double-figures in rebounds.
The East All-Stars trialed by eight points (48-40) at halftime then took the lead in the third quarter, only to see the West club regain it and go up 73-66 after a 9-0 run spearheaded by Yessoufou, Arenas and Peterson’s teammate at Prolific Prep, 6-foot-11 Nikola Bundalo, on his way to Washington. Bundalo finished with 12 points.
Besides Yessoufou, some of the other players that impressed national scouts during Sunday’s scrimmage were Caleb Wilson, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Holy Innocents Episcopal (Atlanta, Ga.) headed to North Carolina, and Malachi Moreno, who on Saturday led FAB 50 No. 49 Great Crossing (Georgetown, Ky.) to a Kentucky Sweet 16 state title and then next day still worked hard and made a defensive impact. The 6-foot-11 Moreno will stay home at play at Kentucky next fall.
In the girls game, the West recorded a 104-82 victory over the East club, as Sienna Betts led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds for the winning club. The 6-foot-4 Grandview (Aurora, Col.) product is headed to UCLA.
Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
