Shakopee boys’ basketball coach Bruce Kugath expected his squad to get better as the year progressed. But its start to the season has been exceptional.

The Class 4A, No. 9 Sabers opened with four consecutive victories, including two over ranked teams. They defeated No. 10 East Ridge 67-59 and most recently No. 4 Hopkins 67-57.

“We are off to a great start,” Kugath said. “I’m encouraged by how hard we are playing and how well we work as a team.”

The Sabers welcomed back two starters — senior guard Evan Hagen and junior forward Steffon Mitchell — from their third-place state tournament team of a year ago. They finished with an overall record of 24-7.

The 6-foot-7 Mitchell is off to an outstanding start, averaging 31.2 points per game. He scored a season-low 20 points against Hopkins, missing most of the second half because of an illness.

On the other hand, Hagen has yet to play this season, because of an injury. Junior forward Drew Hanbury, one of the Sabers’ top reserves, also is sidelined with an injury.

Three of Shakopee’s top four scorers are juniors. Forward Taylor Triplett is averaging 10.7 points per game and guard Booker Coplin is averaging 9.5 points. Senior guard Tevin Killeen is scoring an average of 10 points a night.

“At this point, we have returned only one starter from last year’s team due to some offseason injuries,” Kugath said. “While Steffon has led us in scoring and is playing at a high level, others — Booker, Tevin, Taylor and [senior forward] Jonathan Pierson — have stepped up to fill in the spots left by graduation and injury.”

Eagan senior out east

Eagan senior Noah Kuehn, an offensive tackle on the Wildcats football team, is one of the finalists for the 2014 Wendy’s High School Heisman Award.

The 12 finalists — six boys and six girls — and their parents will be in attendance at a banquet Friday in New York where the winner will be announced. The committee will select one boy and one girl.

The award honors high school athletes who display exceptional leadership in the classroom, on the playing fields and in their communities.

The banquet will be shown on ESPN2 on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Top performances

It was a battle between the top two teams on the court as well as on the ice in the big- school classification.

In girls’ basketball, Class 4A, No. 1 Eastview outlasted No. 2 Hopkins 75-70 in overtime on Saturday as senior guard Madison Guebert scored 35 points. She also eclipsed 2,000 career points.

In boys’ hockey, senior forward Nick Poehling scored all three goals in Class 2A, No. 2 Lakeville North’s 3-1 victory over top-ranked Edina last Thursday. He also had a hat trick in the Panthers’ season-opening 6-5 overtime victory over Farmington.

Ron Haggstrom • 612-673-4498