If the Class 4A State Boys Basketball Tournament was the Olympics, the Federal Way Eagles would have every medal in their trophy case.

The Eagles capped an extremely impressive three-year run inside the Tacoma Dome Saturday afternoon with 53-44 victory over the Wilson Rams. The win over Wilson gave Federal Way a third-place trophy at the 2010 tournament, to go along with their first-place finish last year and runner-up finish in 2008.

The Eagles (26-3) entered this year’s state tournament as the prohibitive favorite. Federal Way was the top-ranked team in Washington all season long after coming off an impressive run to the 2009 title. The Eagles returned two all-state caliber players in Cole Dickerson and Isiah Umipig, who have both already signed Division-I scholarships, and featured a strong cast of long and athletic secondary players.

But it wasn’t meant to be for Federal Way, who suffered a heart-breaking 53-45 loss to the Jackson Timberwolves in the semifinals Friday night in Tacoma.

“It was a great run,” said longtime Federal Way head coach Jerome Collins. “It’s something to be proud of.”

The loss to Jackson, the eventual state runners-up to Kentwood, forced the Eagles into Saturday’s third-sixth game against Wilson.

Federal Way struggled to get going a little bit during the first half, which was understandable considering most believed they would be playing in Saturday’s televised championship game.

Wilson’s Jibreel Stevens came out firing from the outside during the first half. The guard tallied 14 of his game-high 19 points during the opening two quarters, including a high-arcing NBA 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give Wilson a 32-27 lead heading into the locker room.

The Rams led by as many as eight points three times during the first half, but the Eagles got back into the game thanks to six second-quarter points from Dickerson. The senior cut the Wilson lead to just two with a layup with 27 seconds left in the half before Stevens’ late 3-pointer pushed the lead back to five.

But the talented Eagles got rolling in the second half. Federal Way grabbed the lead for good against the Rams when junior Tyrell Lewis converted a tip-in dunk to put the Eagles up 36-34 late in the third quarter.

Wilson, who Federal Way beat by 20 points in the semifinals of the West Central District Tournament, got within one point with 3:30 to play in the game, 44-43, but the Eagles pulled away late.

The Rams were making their first state tournament appearance 10 years and were the sixth seed out of the West Central District.

Dickerson led the Eagles with 16 points and 13 rebounds in the final high school game of a stellar four-year career at Federal Way. The 6-foot-7 forward is headed to the University of San Francisco in the fall. He was recently named the state player of the year after averaging 24 points and 10 rebounds this season.

Dickerson’s running mate, Umipig, finished with just eight points and five assists against Wilson. But the 6-foot guard, who is headed to Cal State Fullerton, was still named first-team, all-tournament after back-to-back 20-point games against Stanwood and Gonzaga Prep.

“It’s really good to see those guys succeed,” Collins said. “They have really come into their own. They carried us all season long.”

Senior Robert Christopher was also solid in his final game. The 6-foot-5 forward finished with 11 points and nine rebounds against Wilson.

Despite the big-time losses of Dickerson and Umipig, along with fellow starters Christopher and George Williams, the Eagles will bring back some very talented players next season, led by junior Tyrell Lewis.

Lewis proved to be one of the most exciting players in the state after transferring to Federal Way from Mount Rainier. The 6-foot-3 wing averaged 9.1 points and had 11 double-digit games this season and numerous highlight-reel dunks.

Also back will be 3-point specialist Jerry Duckworth (7.5 points), guard Roosevelt Jones and D’Londo Tucker and forward Rashawn Goosby-Fields.

Jackson 53, Federal Way 45 (Friday)

The Federal Way Eagles were the best team in the state all season long. There is really no way to dispute that.

The Eagles rolled through the rugged South Puget Sound League North Division with a perfect 16-0 record, winning games by an average of 27 points. Federal Way started the season as the top-ranked Class 4A team and entered the state tournament in that same position.

Their only in-state loss came in the West Central District championship in a fluke. The Lincoln Abes overcame a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Eagles. But Federal Way had gotten back on track inside the Tacoma Dome, blowing out Stanwood and squeaking by second-ranked Gonzaga Prep in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A State Boys Basketball Tournament.

The Eagles third-straight berth into the state title game was a given. All they had to do was beat the 10th-ranked Jackson Timberwolves Friday night in a semifinal game.

But it didn’t happen that way. The upstart Timberwolves stunned Federal Way in a shocking 53-45 upset to earn a berth into Saturday’s title game against Kentwood. The Conquerors eventually beat Jackson in the championship, 64-56.

Jackson was just too much Friday night. The Timberwolves took control from the start and dominated the game. Twice in the third quarter Jackson led by as many as 16 points and the closet the Eagles got was within six points, 45-39, with just under four minutes left in the game.

But that was as close as Federal Way would get.

The Eagles’ big two of Dickerson and Umipig combined for only 22 points in the game. Dickerson, who came in averaging 24 points a game, finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Umipig led Federal Way with 12 points, despite playing just 24 minutes because of foul trouble.

Umipig, the hero of the Eagles’ 60-59 overtime win over Gonzaga Prep, picked up his second foul with 3:04 left in the first quarter and his third on a charge halfway through the second quarter. The Cal State Fullterton-bound Umipig played only eight minutes during the first half.

With Umipig on the bench, Jackson rolled out to a 30-18 halftime lead behind the shooting of the Timberwolves’ all-state junior guard Brett Kingma. Kingma tallied 16 of his game-high 25 points in the first two quarters.