High school basketball coaches — especially those directing teams with championship qualities — relish a late-season tussle with a top opponent.

A down-to-the-wire game presents so many situations that practice can replicate but never fully duplicate, like last-shot scenarios, rallying from a deficit, and executing and making free throws to protect a lead.

South Portland boys coach Kevin Millington knows his 11-2 team will get a great primer for the postseason Friday night when the Red Riots host two-time state champion Windham (12-1).

It’s a rematch of last year’s Class AA championship game, with many of the same players. Both clubs are in the revamped Class A South. Windham is ranked second in the Varsity Maine boys basketball poll; South Portland is fourth.

“It’s a good way to play a game with playoff atmosphere, without playoff consequences,” Millington said.

In Rockport, third-year coach Joel Gabriele is prepping the unbeaten Camden Hills Windjammers (12-0), the top-ranked Varsity Maine team, for back-to-back tests at home. No. 6 Brunswick (11-2), second in Class A North behind Camden Hills, will be in town Friday, and No. 9 Cony (11-2), a high-scoring Class B North contender, visits Saturday.

“These are going to be tournament-game feels. Serious competition,” Gabriele said.

If the current A North seeds hold through the tournament, Camden Hills and Brunswick would play again in the regional final. So, will Gabriele hold something back Friday? Maybe keep a special inbounds play or new defense under wraps?

“That comes into mind as you’re preparing for a game as a coach,” Gabriele said. “Certainly, if we need an out-of-bounds play, I’m not using it in the first half.”

The Gardiner boys, off to a 12-1 start and ranked seventh in the Varsity Maine poll prior to Thursday’s game at Cony, are looking to win their first playoff game since 2012, when eighth-year head coach Aaron Toman was a player and Gardiner won the Eastern Class B title.

“At the end of the year, it’s hard to change who you are, but it is time to fine-tune who you are,” Toman said.

Having tough games allows a coach to point out specific actions and results, Toman said.

“You can go back and say, ‘Hey guys, we’ve done this. We’ve been in overtime. We’ve been behind, or we’ve been ahead and lost a lead and recovered.’ All those situations are important,” Toman said.

For high-ranked teams that already have a quarterfinal berth at a neutral site locked up, a late-season loss can be the proverbial blessing in disguise.

“We’re going to be playing to win,” Gabriele said. “But what’s important to us is to be playing these highly competitive games, and that’s exactly what we’ve got with Brunswick and Cony, two great tests back-to-back.”

On the flip side, other teams need wins in the final third of the season just to get into the tournament.

That’s the case in Falmouth, where last year’s Class A state champion is 6-7 after graduating all of its varsity players. The Navigators are clinging to the 11th and final playoff spot in A South.

“You want to go into the tournament playing the best four (opponents) you can, if you’re in,” said 40-year Falmouth coach David Halligan. “We probably don’t want to play the best four this year.”

Falmouth’s remaining schedule isn’t quite that tough, but four of its five remaining games are against teams ranked higher in the Heal point standings.

Bonny Eagle (8-5), the 10th-place team, has three games against teams ranked higher. The Scots finish with Falmouth.

“They’ll point out your flaws more than in practice or against bad teams, where you might be able to get away with bad habits,” Bonny Eagle coach John Trull said of facing strong opponents.

Last season, Bonny Eagle suffered two lopsided regular-season losses to Thornton Academy. In the regional semifinals at Cross Insurance Arena, the 8-11 Scots stunned No. 1 Thornton, 47-41. The losses forced and informed significant strategy changes, Trull said.

“So, if we’re losing in the regular season, it’s not that we’re not trying to win, but we are evaluating for what we need to do in the playoffs,” Trull said.

Familiarity with a tournament opponent also can help calm nerves, Halligan said. He pointed to last season’s Class A South final between Falmouth and Noble. The teams split regular-season games, both winning at home when the visitors missed a winning or tying shot at the buzzer.

So when Falmouth fell behind by seven points in the third quarter, there was no panic, Halligan said. Falmouth recovered, regained the lead and made key shots and free throws to win 56-53 at the Portland Expo.

“They had been there before, they’d experienced it. The moment wasn’t paralyzing for them,” Halligan said of his veteran squad.

But even with that experience, Falmouth’s defense lost track of Noble’s standout guard and Mr. Maine Basketball winner Jamier Rose in the final seconds. Rose had a chance at a tying 3-pointer.

“We left Jamier open,” Halligan recalled with a chuckle. “And he missed the shot.”

Hey, preparation is great. Luck helps, too.