Talk Tyler Grossman and you're talking numbers.

The Moniteau senior guard led Butler County with 21.4 points per game this season. He averaged 8.8 assists and 8.5 rebounds per game as well.

During his high school career, Grossman tallied 1,647 points, 687 rebounds and 581 assists. He is a three-time first team All-Butler County selection.

And with numbers like those, he is the Butler Eagle's choice for Butler County Boys Basketball Player of the Year, beating out Knoch point guard Jordan Shoop and Union forward Kyle Hilliard for the honor.

But Grossman cares about other numbers, like 22-4 and 1976.

Those are Moniteau's won-loss record and the last year the Warriors won a boys basketball league championship.

The year 2006 will now be the standard after Moniteau won its first Keystone-Shortway Athletic Conference title.

"A lot more people are going to see that banner hanging on the gym wall than that basketball sitting in the (trophy)case,"Grossman said.

The basketball will be sitting in the trophy case because Grossman's 1,647 career points broke the school record previously held by his father, John Grossman.

"That's something I'm very proud of. We're both proud of it, actually,"Grossman said.

"But that championship banner is huge. I mean, we're talking 30 years here. As a team, that was our biggest goal."

And when it comes to Tyler Grossman, team is where it's at.

"He was a great floor leader during the game, but Tyler meant a lot more to this program than that,"Moniteau coach Randy Armagost said. "He was like an assistant coach, rounding up kids to participate in off-season conditioning and workouts.

"He was a team player, a motivator. ... He's going to be sorely missed."

Grossman said familiarity is what bred the Warriors' success in 2005-06.

"It's all about chemistry and we had four starters back,"he said. "As a point guard, I knew when guys would cut to the basket, who was going to be where. It all just clicked."

When it comes to his own numbers, Grossman is most proud of his assist totals. He had 229 this year and averaged 6.38 assists per game throughout his high school career.

"When I'm dishing the ball out, it means everybody is getting his points,"Grossman said. "When they have to guard the other players, it frees up my shot, too."

Grossman's shot wasn't too shabby. He drained 44 3-pointers during the regular season.

Armagost said he'll remember Grossman's will to win more than anything else about his three-year standout.

"His sophomore year, he missed two free throws against Karns City that would have put us ahead with seconds left and we lost that game,"Armagost said. "That bugged him for such a long time.

"Then, his junior year, Tyler makes two free throws at Karns City to beat them. I remember how relieved he was. He felt like he rectified that situation.

"Stuff like that is what drives competitors. They don't forget about defeat. They fix it,"Armagost added.

Grossman will likely play NCAAsmall-school basketball next year. He is looking at either Division IIIJuniata or Division IIHawaii-Pacific. He plans to major in business.

Losing the District 9 championship game this season has fueled his desire to return to the court.

"That was real hard to swallow,"Grossman said of the 57-40 loss to Keystone. "To get that far, win all those games (16 in a row) and see the whole thing end so quickly was rough.

"It makes me want to get back on the court, somewhere, get out there and give it my all, at least one more time. I don't want that to be my last game."