Liberty boys basketball heads to Tacoma Dome after win over Central Valley

Published 4:08 pm Monday, March 2, 2026

All season long, Liberty High School has scratched and clawed in a tough league against some of the best boys basketball teams in the state.

That schedule has chiseled Liberty into one of the top 12 teams in the state, and on Feb. 28, that was proven true as the Patriots (21-6) bested Central Valley (18-8), 63-51, at Issaquah High School.

Liberty has reached the Tacoma Dome two years in a row for the first time as a 3A school and the second time reaching a final site in consecutive years (2018-19 as a 2A school).

Head coach Omar Parker has been at the helm for both of those back-to-back trips, and this year’s Liberty team has played one of the toughest schedules in the history of the school, while partnered with its best player in history in Jackson Whitaker.

“Over the years the culture has shifted more toward expecting to go, rather than hoping to go. They’re super excited because in tournament basketball, anything can happen,” Parker said.

“We’ve bought in all year and worked hard. I think we are going to shock some people,” Whitaker said.

In the first quarter of play against the Bears, the two teams combined for 10 total points through the first eight minutes. Liberty trailed 6-4 with Mason Chin and Whitaker making only one shot apiece in the first. Liberty began the game 0-for-8 from beyond the arc on pretty good looks, but Parker didn’t have a problem with the offense. The defense was what stuck out to the veteran head coach.

“The number that I was focused on was the six. As long as we were guarding and rebounding, eventually we would hit some shots because we weren’t getting bad looks. You can control defense and you can control rebounding, but you can’t always control making baskets. I was super confident because of the way we were guarding,” Parker said.

For Whitaker, the focus stayed to one possession at a time to get his team going in the right direction.

“We are good shooters and we shoot a lot of threes. Eventually they are going to fall,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker got rolling in the second quarter with a 10 point quarter, partnered with Chin scoring seven to put Liberty in front 32-23. But the spark that brought some energy in the second quarter came from Mason Miller, who was subbed in for an out of bounds play, and threw down a two-handed slam on a lob from Chin.

“Anytime you execute something to get a wide open dunk against a well coached team, the confidence on everybody grows,” Parker said.

In the third quarter, Liberty outscored Central Valley by just three, but importantly attacked Central Valley’s motor in Orland Axton. The Bears’ main weapon on offense picked up his fourth foul and was forced to play limited minutes to stay in the game. He later fouled out midway through the fourth quarter, which hamstrung the Central Valley comeback attempt.

Liberty continued to slash Central Valley for the rest of the game, and their offense was just too much for the Bears to handle. His biggest shot didn’t hit until the fourth quarter, when he drilled a three to seal the win for Liberty, but Connor Mayer was tasked with guarding Emerson Lippoldt, the center for Central Valley.

“He is all about the team winning and I respect him for that. He battles super hard on the glass and defending. He does all the small things to help us win,” Whitaker said.

The Bears had cut the Liberty lead to five before Mayer drilled the triple, but the feeling of the Tacoma Dome was within reach: “When that ball went in, I thought we were destined to go to the Dome,” Parker said.

Mayer finished with just five points, but his presence was felt on the defensive side of the floor and on the glass rebounding for the Patriots.

Whitaker went 7 of 8 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and the Central Valley student section chanted “free throw merchant” to the Liberty senior. Quite the chant decision for a player who scored 13 points from the floor in the first three quarters, and one Whitaker hadn’t heard before. He laughed it off afterward.

Whitaker finished with 23 points, followed by Chin, who had 16 for the Patriots.

Liberty now takes on Eastside Catholic on March 4 for the second time this postseason. The two met up back on Feb. 17 in the quarterfinals of the District 2 tournament in which the Crusaders won 76-53. But in March, anything is possible and the Patriots are preparing to make a run inside the Tacoma Dome. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. Our coaches are going to help us prepare and they are the best coaching staff in the country at preparing us. I think we are going to shock some people,” Whitaker said.