Federal Way's dreams of a second-straight state Class 4A boys basketball championship were dashed by Jackson of Mill Creek at the state semifinal level.

The Eagles absorbed a 53-45 loss in the Friday, March 5 action at the Tacoma Dome.

Federal Way left the court in shock and tears, including floor leading senior guard Isiah Umipig.
Umipig had to sit out most of the game in foul trouble.

"It was extremely frustrating to see the guys struggling and I couldn't do a thing about it," said Umipig before the team entered a long meeting led by Eagles head coach Jerome Collins.

Sharpshooter Brett Kingma did the most damage against Federal Way, sinking four three-point shots on his way to 25 points. Ryan Todd led with 12 rebounds.

"I am so proud of our guys," said Todd, whose team went on to take a championship loss to Kentwood the next day. "We had to play a perfect game and that was real close to perfection."

Jackson jumped out to a 6-0 lead against the Eagles before Umipig his a three-point shot to break the string. Cole Dickerson then scored two on an inside pass from Umipig and Federal Way was back in it at 6-5 with 4:39 to play in the first quarter.

The Eagles stayed with the Timber Wolves most of the way from there, in spite of more Jackson scoring strings.

Jackson entered the fourth quarter with a 41-31 lead and still trailed, 45-36, with 4:50 left before Umipig knocked down another three-point shot to make it 45-39 with 3:45 to go.

Todd answered with two points at the 1:51 mark to make it 47-39, before Tyrell Lewis connected for a three-pointer to put his team within five at 47-42 with 58.1 seconds remaining.

Kingma hit a pair of free throws on a one-and-one chance with 31.1 seconds left, but teammate Austin O'Keefe came up empty on a pair of free throws with 20.2 seconds left.

Jerry Duckworth of the Eagles sank a three-point shot with 13.7 seconds left to somehow get his team back into the game at 49-45.

But Kingma sank two free throws on a double bonus to put Federal Way out of reach at 51-45 with 12.6 seconds left. Mike Wishko scored two final free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining to make at 53-45 and that was where the score stuck as Duckworth missed from underneath.

Umipig led the Eagles with 12 points and Dickerson scored 10 with seven rebounds. Tyrell Lewis and Robert Christopher added four apiece and Christopher led with nine rebounds.