In its 36th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Dylan Anderson of Perry High School as its 2020-21 Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Anderson is the first Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Perry High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Anderson as Arizona’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in June, Anderson joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Jayson Tatum (2015-16, Chaminade College Preparatory School, Mo.), Karl-Anthony Towns (2012-13 & 2013-14, St. Joseph High School, N.J.), Jabari Parker (2011-12, Simeon Career Academy, Ill.) and Dwight Howard (2003-04, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.).

The 7-foot, 220-pound junior forward led the Pumas to a 15-3 record and the Class 6A quarterfinals this past season. Anderson averaged 17.1 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. An All-Arizona selection, he was also named MVP of his district and region. Anderson is ranked as the nation’s No. 46 prospect in the Class of 2022 by ESPN.

Anderson has volunteered locally on behalf of Sun Lakes Rotary Club and youth sports programs. “Dylan Anderson is a skilled big man who is highly effective around the rim,” said Paul Biancardi, ESPN National Recruiting Director. “He’s a hybrid post who can make the 3-point shot or drive on his man from the high post. Defensively, he displays mobility to hedge or switch ball screens. Expect him to be a centerpiece in Tommy Lloyd’s program at Arizona.”

Anderson has maintained a 3.60 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Anderson joins recent Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Players of the Year DaRon Holmes (2019-20, Millennium High School), Nico Mannion (2018-19 & 2017-18, Pinnacle High School), and Alex Barcello (2016-17, Corona del Sol High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Anderson has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Anderson is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators. To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.