Eastside Catholic’s Jacob Cofie is The News Tribune’s state basketball player of the year
It seemed too easy for Jacob Cofie in the closing minutes of the Class 3A state championship game March 2 when everyone inside the Tacoma Dome knew where the basketball would be.
If he wasn’t already bullying his way to the rim, Cofie was directing traffic, taking fouls or finding an open Eastside Catholic teammate. His Crusaders traded title-game blows with Metro-rival Rainier Beach throughout a thrilling, up-for-grabs championship before Cofie and 6-10 sophomore center, Yabi Aklog, proved too forceful in the paint, and senior sharpshooter Kayden Greene knocked down a pair of clutch treys in the fourth quarter.
“When we went down in the game, I felt like we were always in control,” Cofie told The News Tribune. “We had a lot of leadership, and we’ve all been through it.
“We’ve all been to the Dome.”
Never had they prevailed as champions until that Saturday night in Tacoma. Cofie, meanwhile, posted a 17-point, 13-rebound double-double in the title game. When routinely double-teamed, he found an open Aklog — who dropped a championship-best 28 points with nine boards. At the end of its 65-57 win, Eastside Catholic stormed center court and hoisted the renowned gold basketball trophy in what was the program’s first-ever state title and Cofie’s final high-school game.
“(Jacob) was locked in from the get-go,” Crusaders head coach Brent Merritt said. “I knew after the first quarter, honestly, that we had the game, because we hadn’t played our best quarter and we were still leading. I wasn’t nervous after that point.
“Coming into the game, you’re always nervous. But Jacob kept me sane. He was playing so hard on both ends of the floor, doing all the little things.”
March can’t get much sweeter: this month alone, Cofie pocketed a 3A state title, was voted the tournament’s most valuable player and was named Washington’s “Mr. Basketball” for the 2023-24 season.
Now, he is The News Tribune’s 2024 state boys basketball player of the year.
“He improved every year. It was time. It was time,” Merritt repeated. “He really dialed in.
“It’s a no-brainer for me, but I’m biased.”
Cofie averaged 23.5 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, and three blocks per game through his senior season, helping Eastside Catholic to district and state titles.
Rarely can 6-foot-10 forwards approach the game like a guard, but he was Eastside Catholic’s team leader in points and assists. A four-star recruit and Division I signee to the University of Virginia, Cofie established himself as the state’s premier power forward as both a unique, all-level shot creator and generous passer possessing a keen basketball IQ for what develops around him.
“You just want to get the ball in his hands and let him make the decision,” Merritt said. “He’s never going to be selfish about it. He’s never going to force up shots. He’s going to find the right player every time. He’s confident in his teammates, and that’s hard to find from your best player consistently. Usually, your best player wants to jack up shots.”
Eastside Catholic’s three state contests inside the Tacoma Dome were decided in the final possessions — the Crusaders won each by single digits — but Cofie and Aklog’s size and presence proved inevitable, combining for 24 of the team’s 27 first-half points in the title game.
“When you have two of us in the game, you can’t scheme for both of us,” Cofie said. “That’s why in that championship game, Rainier Beach doubled me, and it left Yabi to go to work. And when they doubled him, when they tried to scheme for Yabi, it opened up my game.
“It’s really hard to stop.”
The duo dates back to 2020, when a seventh-grade Aklog attended Eastside Catholic’s high-school practices and freshman Cofie took the ascending middle schooler under his wing, albeit for a rude awakening.
“Jacob probably just dominated him every day,” Merritt chuckled. “It was bad. He would block Yabi like he was a child, because he was. Yabi just finally got to the stage where (Jacob) was like, ‘Oh, coach, (Yabi) can do it. He’s good.’ You can see the improvement from him. … For him to show up on the stage he did this state tournament was huge for us.”
Cofie’s career continues in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) at the University of Virginia, a program he believes will nurture his defensive game. Two-time AP Coach of the Year Tony Bennett coached Virginia to the 2019 Division-I title and recruited Cofie strongly: “His ball handling and passing skills along with his ability to post up and face the basket make him a multidimensional offensive threat,” Bennett said in a team release.
What does Cofie leave behind, and what will Merritt miss most?
“He looks for all of our shooters,” Merritt said. “He’s gonna penetrate and draw, he can throw it up high to the big fella. For me, that’s the best part of his game. … It’s not his scoring that we’re gonna miss. It’s his playmaking for everybody else.
“After his freshman year, I told (Jacob), ‘You need to be the best player on the team. He looked at me like I was crazy. He didn’t really see it. But as his growth has shown every year, (Jacob’s like), ‘OK. It’s my turn.’ It’s going to be the same way in college.”
