CHERRY TWP - Upon receiving the game basketball for scoring his 1,000th career point, Tyler Grossman fired it into the stands.

It was a perfect strike right onto his father's fingertips.

Why not? Moniteau's junior point guard has produced many such pinpoint passes before.

"Passing was the first skill he developed as a young player," said his father, John Grossman. "I don't know if you can teach that. It's more like a natural gift."

The younger Grossman averages 7.1 assists per game this season. He averaged 9.6 assists per game his sophomore year.

But forget about his passes. Grossman recently became the fourth Moniteau boys basketball player to score 1,000 points in a high school career. He likely will end his junior year No. 2 on the Warriors' all-time scoring list.

At the top of that list is his father, who graduated from Moniteau in 1978 with 1,440 points.

"He's certainly on target to break it," John Grossman said. "I'm not surprised. He's been groomed to do that since fourth grade."

When Tyler Grossman was presented the ceremonial basketball, he knew exactly where to pass it.

"Everything I know about basketball I learned from my Dad," he said.That includes winning. His father played on the Warriors' 1976 team that won the Clarion County League. Moniteau hasn't won a league title in boys basketball since.Grossman wants to end that drought."Scoring 1,000 points, breaking his father's record, that's not a big deal to him," Moniteau coach Randy Armagost said. "Tyler wants to win a championship."He showed no emotion the night he reached 1,000 points at Union. We all congratulated him, but 1,000 points wasn't on his mind. He fouled out and we lost in overtime. That's all he cared about," the coach added.Winning has been a difficult task this year. After Grossman pulled a hamstring during a scrimmage the Saturday after Thanksgiving, his doctor wanted him to rest six to eight weeks.Instead, he sat out four games - all losses - and the Warriors began the season 0-10."Nothing is more frustrating than watching your team lose and knowing there's nothing you can do to help them," Grossman said.When he did return to the lineup, Grossman was only 50 percent. He still couldn't practice or move laterally. Moniteau played a zone defense because of his limited mobility."Even now, he's maybe 90 percent," Armagost said. "He takes heat treatments before every game and ices it down after every game."He's getting there. He's almost all the way back. The (Monday) game at Union was the first time we let him go all out."Grossman responded with 31 points, 10 rebounds and six assists that night. He is averaging 20.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game this year to go with his 7.1 assists.Not bad for a player who is "getting there," as his coach puts it."That's how special he is," Armagost said. "I don't go by the numbers. I go by what I see on the court.""It was tough not being able to practice because I couldn't get into a rhythm with the rest of the guys in the games," Grossman said. "I'd make a pass and the other guy wouldn't be expecting it, stuff like that, because we couldn't work on it in practice."That's all changing now. We're getting into a rhythm as a team."Grossman said he would rather get 10 assists in a game than score 20 points."I'll take the 10 assists any day," he said. "That means I'm getting the other players involved. The 20-point nights are gonna be there."Making other players on the court better is very important to me. You can't win a championship with one guy."Grossman averaged 18.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last year. He averaged 9.36 points per game as a freshman."He was a shooting guard that year, and we didn't have him do much else," Armagost said.Grossman always played a year ahead of his age in basketball, playing on the eighth-grade team in seventh grade, etc. He averaged more than 15 points per game in junior high."Tyler's a perfectionist," his father said. "If he doesn't hit 80 percent of his shots, he thinks he had a bad game."We work on his shooting technique for hours on end in the driveway."Grossman said he doesn't play one-on-one against his father. They play shooting games like H-O-R-S-E."I win some, he wins some," Grossman said. "The man can still shoot the ball."Juniata and Robert Morris are among colleges showing early interest in Grossman."He has average speed and doesn't have great jumping ability," Armagost said. "But Tyler knows the game, he understands the game and he fundamentally does the right thing."He doesn't make bad decisions and he sees the floor so well."He's also an A and B student, but Grossman won't take one thing from his father: Moniteau's career rebounding record of 1,043."That one's safe with me," the elder Grossman said, smiling.