Don’t let Lakeville South’s 1-2 record fool you. Just three games into the 2010-11 season, the Cougars have already gone toe-to-toe with two of last year’s defending state-champions — and given them all they could handle.

South has come close to getting two marquee wins early in the season, but hasn’t been able to close the door on either No. 1 (3A) St. Paul Johnson (a 61-60 loss) or No. 1 (4A) Hopkins (a 93-89 loss Tuesday night). Despite being tough losses to take, Cougars head coach John Sheehan is proud of what his team has done in the early-going and is anxious to build on its success.

“Both games were scheduled because we know we have a good team and want to play the best. It’s kind of a benchmark to see where we’re at,” Sheehan said of the difficult schedule. “Obviously we know we could have won both games, but there are spurts and some things didn’t go our way. It comes down to just a couple hustle plays here and there.”

Despite a few possessions that could have been better, Sheehan is optimistic that these early tests for his team will prove important later this season, as his team tries to reach the state tournament for the first time since 2007.

“We’re not playing our best basketball, and that’s the good thing,” he said. “It’s not going to be an undefeated season, so lets just get better.”

With a handful of senior leaders and a deep junior class, Sheehan sees his team as capable of making great strides this year and potentially winning the South Suburban conference.

“We have such a great core of captains this year, everybody has stepped up in their leadership roles,” said Sheehan, referring to senior forward Jon Christensen (13 ppg) and senior guards Alec Jensen (8 ppg) and Riley West (11.3 ppg). “We have a tremendous junior class that’s going to have huge benefits next year because of our senior class this year.”

At the head of that senior class for the Cougars is forward Alex Richter, a 6-6 scorer who has led the South Suburban each of the last two seasons and is well on his way to doing so again. Richter has poured an average of more thn 33 points per game to start his senior campaign, though Sheehan doesn’t see scoring as a goal of Richter’s.

“He just wants to win this year,” Sheehan said. “He’s a quality, quality kid. He works hard in practice and he’s not a ‘me, me’ player. We have four senior captains that have played a lot of basketball together and I don’t think they care who scores.”

With the amount of scoring Richter has been able to produce against some of Minnesota’s best, he has started to get attention from some college programs. Noting his hard work in the classroom, Sheehan said there are a few Ivy League schools interested and that as the season wears on he expects Richter to attract more interest.

“He’s a tremendous finisher and he puts the ball in the basket. Everyone that’s seen him play knows he’s a competitor,” said Sheehan. “He has definitely worked on his shooting and improved his confidence this year. I don’t think people really realize how athletic he is.”

With two tough games now out of the way, Sheehan doesn’t expect it to get any easier on his squad. With Apple Valley, Eastview and Eagan all in the Metro top-10, the South Suburban promises to be a competitive struggle all season.

“In my mind it’s the greatest conference to play in. You don’t take a night off,” Sheehan said. “You have to prepare for a tough game night-in and night-out.”

He added that he wants his team to learn from the losses they’ve suffered and move forward toward March.

“Expectations are high for this team, and a couple losses early doesn’t determine your season. I think [the players are] taking positives out of the games, and they’re excited to avenge those losses if they can.”