Bill Goodwin has been successful wherever basketball has taken him.
Goodwin had success playing and coaching at Northwest Missouri State and also coaching at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo.
His prep coaching career has taken him from Iowa to Arizona, where he won a state championship, and now to Granby’s Middle Park.
In his first season with the Panthers, Goodwin is succeeding again.
Middle Park (12-4, 6-0) remained undefeated in the Class 3A Metropolitan League with a 70-51 win Saturday at Bishop Machebeuf.
“I believe in teamwork and that the best five wins,” said Goodwin, who also is his school’s athletic director. “Yeah, talentwise we may be a little lacking, but we have a good character crew and that is what this is about, building character.”
Middle Park, a Sweet 16 team a year ago, fell behind 8-2 on Saturday. But the Panthers’ 18-0 run all but put the game away. Slick guard Mike Landa ran the Panthers’ offense, scoring 17 points and dishing out eight assists to a starting five that includes Zilvinas Sutkus, Joe Cisneros and Aurelijus Sutkus.
“We changed coaching staffs and that was probably for the better,” Landa said. “The past couple of years, it has been a lot of one-on-one. This is team basketball. It’s great.”
Middle Park’s balanced offense is set up by the team’s pressure defense, which frustrated the Buffaloes (9-7, 1-5). Playing without center Nick Branch, who suffered a broken wrist against Denver Lutheran on Thursday, Machebeuf shot just 25.4 percent (16-for-63) from the field, including a 2-for-27 performance from 3-point range.
Zilvinas Sutkus scored 17 points and Cisneros finished with 16 points for the Panthers, whose three remaining games come against top- ranked Faith Christian, two- time 3A champion Denver Christian and Kent Denver.
Middle Park 16 16 18 20 – 70
Bishop Machebeuf 8 12 16 15 – 51
Middle Park – Landa 6 5-5 17, Sutton 1 7-10 9, Z. Sutkus 8 1-3 17, Joe Cisneros 5 6-6 16, A. Sutkus 3 1-2 8, Sprague 0 1-2 1, Bujanovich 0 1-2 1, Bickler 0 1-2 1, Schmidt 0 0-0 0, Ju. Cisneros 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 23-32 70.
Bishop Machebeuf – Everhart 2 2-4 7, Lawrence 3 2-4 8, Bullock 1 4-5 6, Henson 3 1-3 7, Tuggle 3 6-10 12, Meidl 0 0-0 0, Mi. Murrieta 0 2-2 2, Ma. Murrieta 1 0-0 2, Salazar 0 0-0 0, Manus 0 0-2 0, Brown 3 0-0 7, Knutson 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 17-30 51.
3-point goals – A. Sutkus; Everhart, Brown. Total fouls – Middle Park 17, Bishop Machebeuf 23. Fouled out – A. Sutkus; Bullock. Technical – A. Sutkus.
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
