Armagost isn't a 1-trick pony
CHERRY TWP — Reaching 1,000 points in your high school career is always a big accomplishment. But Moniteau senior Tyler Armagost was looking for something else.
In a 59-58 victory over A-C Valley on Feb. 12 — the final regular season game before the District 9 Class AA playoffs — Armagost chipped in with 12 points, giving him 1,002 in his career and making him the sixth male player in school history to do so.
With two playoff games that followed, Armagost finished his career with 1,030 points.
Armagost, however, almost pulled off another feat, missing the 1,000-rebound mark by two.
"I would rather have gotten the rebounds, to tell you the truth," said Armagost. "A lot of people have gotten 1,000 points. Not too many have gotten 1,000 rebounds and I was two short."
Moniteau coach Randy Armagost, who also is Tyler's father, said "the thing we talked about before the season was we needed his rebounding more than points.
"Throughout the year, he was the main player in terms of keeping everyone involved," he added.
Midway through the season, Tyler found out he was about 100 points away from 1,000.
"I started really thinking about it then," said Tyler. "But, I had to pass, too."
Armagost, a Butler Eagle first-team selection as a sophomore and junior, finished his career at Moniteau with a double-double average (11.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game) and averaged 6.9 assists per contest (621).
As a sophomore, Armagost averaged 12.8 points, 11.0 rebounds and 7.4 assists. The following year, he averaged 16.0 points, 11.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists.
Even as a freshman, with players such as Tyler Grossman and Matt Schandelmeier playing alongside him, Armagost averaged five points, 11 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game as the point guard.
"He played at point guard (his first two seasons), but on defense he always played under the basket. He never guarded many guards," Randy Armagost said.
"He's played AAU ball since the sixth or seventh grade. He never missed a workout, even when he didn't play a game.
"I'd tell him to hold on, to just shoot some free throws ... but he'd go that extra mile. He felt obligated to be in there," he added.
With his 1,030 points, Armagost passed Micah Smith (1,004, 1995) for fifth on the boys all-time list.
Only Grossman (1,647, 2006), John Grossman (1,440, 1978), Randy Jackson (1,359, 1981) and Ryan Morton (1,093, 1993) finished with more
"This was pretty big for me," said Tyler. "I've been working on it since the ninth grade. It feels pretty good."
