High school basketball: Dariq Whitehead leads East to boys McDonald's All American Game victory

The return of the McDonald's All American Game after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 was going to be special, the players said. And it was, especially so for Duke-bound Dariq Whitehead.

The Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) senior scored 13 points and added seven rebounds and seven assists, leading the East to an emphatic 105-81 victory over the West at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The 6-foot-6 point guard was named the Most Valuable Player for the game.

Though he's received many awards in his decorated young career, this tops them all.

"This one is definitely special," Whitehead told an ESPN audience in the final moments of the game. "This one I'm going to remember forever."

Whitehead said a decisive loss to the West in a practice game over the weekend inspired his team more. He said his teammates were after a 20-point-plus victory Tuesday and they got it in a game they never trailed, jumping out to leads of 12-2 and 15-4. They led by double digits most of the night. He got a lot of help with six East players scoring in double figures, led by Villanova-bound Cam Whitmore of Archbishop Spalding (Severn, Md.) who had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Kentucky-signee Chris Livingston of Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Houston-bound Jarace Walker of IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) added 11 points and high-flying Dillon Mitchell of Montverde Academy contributed three spectacular dunks among his nine points. The nation's top recruit Dereck Lively II of Westtown (West Chester, Pa.) had 10 points and three blocks and Arterio Morris, of Kimball (Dallas) contributed 12 points. Morris, a Texas-signee, switched from the West team at the last moment after a couple of injuries to East players. He contributed to the big win.
Another Duke commit Mark Mitchell of Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) led the West with 19 points. Baylor-bound Keyonte George, also of IMG Academy, contributed 13 points and three 3-pointers, UCLA-signee Amari Bailey of Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) had 10 points, and Oregon-bound Kel'el Ware of North Little Rock (Ark.) added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the West.

Their team shot just 34 of 90 from the field (37.8 percent) compared to 59 percent by the East (45-for-76), which prevailed despite making just 6 of 22 free throws.