Updated 8:54 a.m. Thursday, April 3:
Incoming Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson scored 18 points and received co-MVP honors as he led the West team to a 105-92 victory in Tuesday night’s boys basketball McDonald’s All-American Game in Brooklyn, New York.
Peterson, who is the 52nd KU signee to participate in the event, boosted the West squad to its first victory since 2018. He scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter, including three dunks in rapid succession and a pull-up jumper off a pick-and-roll, to help the West team fend off the East’s comeback attempt.
Peterson’s 18 points came on 7-for-14 shooting (1-for-6 from deep) and were accompanied by seven rebounds and three steals.
The West also featured BYU signee AJ Dybantsa, the consensus top player in the class and one of Peterson’s primary competitors for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. He scored 17 points, including a coast-to-coast run through the East defense for a dunk in the final minute. The East team was led by Cameron Boozer, of Duke, who shared the MVP honors with Peterson as he scored 16 points.
Peterson, who is originally from Canton, Ohio, but plays for Prolific Prep in Napa, California, started a bit slow, missing some early shots from long and mid-range before getting on the board with a putback dunk and drawing a foul on the ensuing possession.
He did most of his damage in transition on the night, heating up a bit in the first half when he knocked down a transition 3 and added a fast-break dunk.
The second half also didn’t feature Peterson much in the early going until his run of dunks in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
Peterson will be back in action soon, as Prolific Prep faces Long Island Lutheran in the Chipotle Nationals on Thursday. That game will be televised on ESPN2 at 1 p.m. Central Time.
For the first time in 22 years, the KU women’s team also had a player represented in the girls basketball McDonald’s All-American Game as Jaliya Davis, an Overland Park native, took the floor for the East squad earlier on Tuesday night.
The West won the girls’ game 104-82, led by UCLA commit Sienna Betts.
Davis is one of several joint headliners of KU’s marquee 2025 recruiting class, which also features guards Libby Fandel and Keeley Parks and forward Tatyonna Brown.
Though Davis did not put up eye-popping numbers in Tuesday’s showcase, she did score at the rim on multiple occasions, finishing with an efficient 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds, according to The Sporting News. She was one of a quartet of double-digit scorers on the East team and the only one to get to her total without taking double-digit shots, as she finished 5-for-7.
It’s exceedingly rare in any case for KU to have a presence in the event. Davis is just the third Jayhawk ever to receive the honor after Lauren Ervin and Jessica Washington, and only Ervin had previously come to KU out of high school.
East’s Jaliya Davis pushes toward the basket in the McDonald’s All-American Game on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
This story has been updated to reflect that Ervin came to KU out of high school, not Washington.
McDonald's All-American Game
McDonald’s All-American Game