Class 5A No. 5 Frederick boys

Game details: Friday, 5:45 p.m. against No. 1 Air Academy

Scouting report: When the Golden Eagles earned the No. 5 seed after a season blemished by just one loss — a one-point stunner to Riverdale Ridge — there was collective shock among basketball fans and sports writers alike.

Sure, their Longs Peak League didn’t provide the best competition, but they blew out most of those teams by 20 points or more. They ended the regular season as the top-scoring team in 5A, averaging 79.5 points per game. Anyone who has watched this team play has witnessed a squad, led by senior point guard Luke Justice, that makes quality basketball look easy. They make it fun.

And they have the talent and depth to back it up with Justice (22.4 ppg), senior small forward Matias Aldana (12.7 ppg), senior shooting guard Harry Singh (11.2 ppg), senior small forward Jacob Lovins (9.2 ppg) and junior shooting guard J.J. Strojinc (7.7 ppg).

They’ve made rather easy work of their ride to the Final Four, winning by margins of 28 (Centaurus), 17 (Harrison) and 15 points (Mead). Head coach Jeff Conway knows the toprated Kadets will cause his boys headaches if they can’t defend the 3-point line well, and highlights defense in general as one of the keys to victory.

“I think we match up well with their size and speed,” Conway said. “A big key to the game will be rebounding and not giving them second-chance points. We gave up a lot of offensive boards against Mead and we need to do a better job of keeping Air Academy off the glass and not giving them easy putbacks.”