Liberty boys basketball punches ticket to state tournament

Published 2:35 pm Monday, February 23, 2026

It became desperation mode for the Liberty High School boys basketball team as they looked to send themselves to the state tournament for the second straight season, but all that stood in the way was the Seattle Prep Panthers.

Liberty put together possibly their best game of the season while Jackson Whitaker scored a game high 43 points in a 79-69 win on Feb. 21 at Bellevue College. Whitaker and his teammates were dominant from the game plan install to its execution for all four quarters.

“I felt like everything we did today worked. Every set, every mismatch we created, every game plan, the majority of that credit doesn’t go to me. It goes to our assistant coaches. Tanner (Froeber), Bo (Mowad), Justin (Pallari), Dayton (Mackay), Bernard (Thomas), Russ (Schoene) did the majority of the preparation and had us prepared and ready to execute a great game plan. If it wasn’t our best game, it was right there,” head coach Omar Parker said.

Seattle Prep was never in the game, and that was by design. The Panthers have their own version of Whitaker in the form of Niko Christofilis, and the Panther senior had a game eerily similar to Whitaker, but it was clear the Liberty star was a step in front of his Prep counterpart.

“I took a lot of pride in defense and my coaches trust me to play defense. He’s a great player. I had to lock in and I love the challenge,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker reached double figures in each quarter against Prep, and as the saying goes, big time players make big time plays in big time situations. Nothing was more true for Whitaker’s performance than his moxie on the floor to get his team to the state tournament.

“I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to be done playing. My teammates trusted me and gave me the rock. My coaches put me in positions to score. That’s just what happens,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker also surpassed 2,000 career points as a Liberty Patriot, needing 14 coming into the game against Prep. He now has the most points for a Liberty Patriot, most points in a game, and highest average points per game, among other records.

“He has spent countless hours working on everything you saw, in practice with our staff and early mornings by himself. Our staff did a tremendous job putting him in great places and creating great mismatches to have his best opportunity for such a great individual performance,” Parker said.

Liberty jumped out to a 20-7 lead in the first quarter on an Elijah Nordland 3-pointer, and the Patriots threw the first punch and kept throwing jabs. Liberty led 23-13 at the end of the first quarter, and Whitaker and Mason Chin combined for 16 points to outscore Seattle Prep between the two of them.

The second quarter was where Prep seemed to find their stride and cut the Liberty lead to just three points at 34-31. But on the ensuing possession, Whitaker banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and that was the closest the Panthers got to Liberty all game.

Defensively, Seattle Prep sent out three players over 6-foot-5. Liberty has Connor Mayer at 6-foot-4 and Mason Miller at 6-foot-5 were outmatched down low. But Mayer and Miller are part of a cabal of Liberty players who know their role and excel in it.

“The unsung heroes are the Connor’s, Royce’s, Eli’s and Mason’s. How hard they work when they are outsized in the block is a credit to them and the guys around them that we got great help,” Parker said.

In the fourth, Chin rattled off a quick six points to get Liberty rolling in the fourth. The game plan never failed for the Patriots, and top to bottom, there was an answer for anything Seattle Prep threw at them.

“It was hours of coaches watching film and doing work for us. Without them we would not be here. We knew all of their plays and how they set up. We know what is coming and they prepared us extremely well,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker also was perfect from the free throw line in the game, including going 5 for 5 in the final quarter.

Liberty was given the No. 12 seed in the 3A state tournament as they avoided the play-in games before the regional round. Liberty will play the winner of No. 20 Lakes and No. 13 Central Valley and whoever the Patriots play will be at Issaquah at noon Feb. 28.

“We gotta look forward and prepare for the next game. I’m so hyped,” Whitaker said.