{"id":1552,"date":"2015-03-17T12:09:02","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T17:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/?p=1552"},"modified":"2015-03-17T12:09:02","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T17:09:02","slug":"boys-basketball-player-of-the-year-ta-became-leader-of-cougars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/archives\/1552\/","title":{"rendered":"Boys Basketball Player of the Year: Ta became leader of Cougars"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.centraljersey.com\/articles\/2015\/03\/17\/the_princeton_packet\/sports\/doc5507129223217651658745.txt<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/p>\n

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\n
Kris Grundy could tell right away there was something special about Chase Ta.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dWatching him in middle school and early on in his freshman year you could see he had unbelievable court vision and he could handle the ball well,\u201d said Grundy, the Montgomery High boys\u2019 basketball coach. \u201cHe had a great ability to see the floor and find his teammates. His ability to score the ball over the last two years even surprised us as a coaching staff. We knew he could score but the extent that he has become a scorer has led to our success the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ta began his freshman year with the Montgomery varsity and was in the starting lineup by the middle of that season. He has been a fixture there for the Cougars the past three seasons, helping the team to continued success.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dI think back to that a lot,\u201d said Ta, a senior who just completed an outstanding four-year career with the Cougars. \u201cEver since my freshman year when Coach Grundy told me that in a couple of years this would be my team, it gave me time to gain experience. I learned that year that I was not strong enough to play at the varsity level. I had to work in the weight room to gain muscle and be able to play with bigger guys. It paid off for me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dThe first two years were big learning years and then my junior year we were a top 20 team in the state. Coach Grundy put me and Justin (Kovacevich) in for playing time my freshman year and I think that really helped us. That is something he always does and did this year with the Matt Remsen types. It helps the program overall.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ta helped the Cougars to a school-record 27 wins last year and this year the team won 17 games and earned a Skyland Conference Raritan Division championship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dHe\u2019s been starting since he was a freshman,\u201d Grundy said of Ta. \u201cMidway through that season we decided to make him our starting point guard and from that point on he took the ball and ran with it. To see how far he has come has been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Chase Ta is the Princeton Packet Boys Basketball Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ta finished this season as the Cougars leading scorer at 16.6 points per game. He also led the team in assists (3.5 per game) and steals (3.8 per game), and was second on the team in rebounding at 5.9 per game.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dMy first year we had Kevin Johnson and he was a great point guard,\u201d Ta said. \u201cMy sophomore year it was my job to put the team in motion and not turn it over. That was my main goal. My junior year we changed the offense and we were more athletic and more of a fast-break oriented team and I was able to create a few more shots for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ta averaged 9.8 points and 5.2 assists per game last year. This year he was counted on to do more scoring for the Cougars.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dFrom the midway point of his junior year through his senior year he turned the switch on and became more of a scorer,\u201d Grundy said. \u201cBefore he just fed his teammates and scored when had to. He became a point guard who not only set his teammates up but could score.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dTo watch him and Justin for three years was fun. Justin became Chase\u2019s security blanket like a tight end with a quarterback. They knew where each other was and to see him step up without Justin this year was great. He took on a role as a rebounder was also our leading scorer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The whole Montgomery experience was one Ta will always cherish, even as he gets set to move on to a college career at Skidmore.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dMontgomery High basketball has a tradition that preaches family,\u201d Ta said. \u201cWe have it on our shirts and that is true. Players and alumni come back to practices and games, even if they didn\u2019t get a lot of time. We have the MIRE, which is internet radio, and I know one of the former players is in Italy and he listens to all the games.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dI remember when I was younger and Coach Grundy had his basketball camps and I would go. In sixth grade I would work on the side when the older players were practicing and realized then I had a chance to play varsity basketball someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Added Grundy: \u201cHe is great leader. The guys look to him on the court. Everybody sees what he can do when the lights come on. But also on the practice court and off he is such a high character kid. He will do great things at Skidmore. I know Coach (Joe) Burke is excited for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ta realizes when he gets to college he\u2019ll face the same challenges he did as he worked his way into the lineup for the Cougars.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dThey just came off a pretty successful season,\u201d Ta said. \u201cThey had 20 wins and won their league. It is another good environment that I will be going into. I talked to the coach and I probably won\u2019t start but that was the case my freshman year of high school, too. They have a great point guard right now who will be a senior. He had another great season again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ta hopes his college career takes the same path that his high school career did at Montgomery.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dI know I became more confident knowing I could play with these guys and do what I wanted to do instead of deferring to others,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew I could drive and get to the basket. As I went on I gained a lot of confidence. I still remember back to the Senior Nights when I was younger and those guys would say it goes by so fast. You don\u2019t believe it until it is your turn. Now that it is over it went by so fast.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.centraljersey.com\/articles\/2015\/03\/17\/the_princeton_packet\/sports\/doc5507129223217651658745.txt     Kris Grundy could tell right away there was something special about Chase Ta. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201dWatching him in middle school and early on in his freshman year you could see he had unbelievable court vision and he could handle the ball well,\u201d said Grundy, the Montgomery High boys\u2019 basketball coach. \u201cHe had a great […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mhsbasketball.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}