With his 5-foot-8 frame, Maurice “Mo” Austin doesn’t immediately look like he would be one of Colorado’s most prolific high school basketball stars ever, but that’s exactly who he is.
Named CHSAA’s 2023 5A Player of the Year, Austin has only added to his legacy this season, thanks to some sterling statistical production.
Austin’s dazzling senior season has him averaging 33.0 points and 5.9 steals per game through Feb. 4, ranking first and third respectively, across all classes of boys basketball this season.
In turn, he’s reached some remarkable milestones.
On Jan. 20, he broke the state record for career steals, previously owned by Ignacio’s Wyatt Hayes, with 407 steals. That record has since climbed to 448, improving on the previous mark by a whopping 10.1%, with four more regular-season games left to play. If he stays on his current trajectory, the gap between him and Hayes will be about the same as the gap between Hayes and Colorado’s ninth-most productive steal artist of all time in boys basketball. Plus, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, he already ranks top-20 all-time in career steals nationally — a list topped by NBA Hall-of-Famer Jason Kidd.
“He’s got a knack for being two steps ahead of offensive schemes,” Austin’s head coach at Pueblo South, Shannan Lane, said. “If they’ve got a specific offense or sets that they’re running, ‘Mo’ is very good at anticipating. He’s very good at picking at the ball and it’s just a knack for him. It really is. I mean, whether we’re pressing or we’re and a half court, Mo’s always disrupting something in their offensive set.”
This season he also became just the 14th boys basketball player in state history to tally 2,000 career points, passing Colorado basketball legend Chauncey Billups in the process. Austin’s current total of 2,133 career points ranks 11th all-time, in Colorado boys basketball, and he’s currently on pace to rank eighth all-time at the end of the regular season. The peak of his scoring output came in a game against Air Academy this January, where he recorded a dizzying total of 56 points – tied for the 12th-best mark in state history.
Austin has always been a dynamic scorer, but between his junior and senior seasons, he lept from averaging 27.2 points per game to 33.0 points per game. He credits the rare basketball culture he’s surrounded by for that progress.
“They knew I was gonna have to take a big jump in order to win games,” Austin recalled. “We went to the gym every day. My brother, he’s a college player, was helping me push and hitting me with better defense. My sister is an incredible shooter. She taught me, mainly, how to shoot the ball. My dad’s a really good point guard. And my mom is, the positive one – always there whether it’s a bad day, good day, off day, on day. They’re always staying with me.”
Taking such a large leap as a scorer greatly aided the legend of ‘Mo’ Austin at Pueblo South. In fact, he has been so prolific there, that the program retired his No. 24 jersey months before his senior season even ended.
That said, the growth he’s made a scorer hasn’t even been his best development of the season, according to Austin’s head coach.
“I think, this year, I’ve seen more development in his leadership,” Coach Lane said. “Being able to talk to the guys and get these boys up. Last night, I started three freshmen. At any time I could have two or three freshmen on the floor. And he’s trying to guide them, help direct them, even in practice, and just trying to calm some nerves that they might have. So, his role has had to change, and he’s definitely blossomed for me.”
That’s not surprising to hear after talking with Austin.
He’s proud of what he’s already accomplished, as anyone would be, but, once again, he’s quick to credit his teammates and family for enabling him to reach these marks.
“It means a lot,” Austin remarked about becoming the state’s steals king. “I’ve got to give a shoutout to my family and my friends, who put me in this position and are where all my success has come from. It’s a nice goal and I’m very appreciative of my family, what they accomplished, what we can do, and what we can achieve when we stay together.”
Along with his family, those friends have been another rock for Austin.
“I can have a bad game, I can have a good game, but they’re always going to be my friends,” the Pueblo South star said. “They’re gonna always work out with me and get me better as a person and as a basketball player.”
Austin’s support system has always pushed him forward and aided his basketball development, dating all the way back to the third grade, when, in an effort to help the family travel to his older sister’s games, Austin’s dad put him on an AAU team that competed against high schoolers.
“I knew he was going to be special when he wasn’t scared to play,” Austin’s father, Peron, remembered. “We weren’t winning games back then, but he and his [fifth-grade] brother weren’t scared to compete. And they think he’s little now, but he was really little back then, and he wasn’t scared to play against high school kids.”
It’s not hard to imagine how that crucible prepared the smaller point guard well for his pursuit of basketball stardom.
Now, as his senior season nears its close, seemingly the only thing that has eluded Austin throughout his high school basketball career is the thing he desires most – a state title.
“State Championship. 100 percent,” Austin said when asked if he’d rather become the state’s all-time career scoring leader or win a state title. “I care, but I really don’t care [about the records] that much. A scoring title only really helps one person and puts one person on the map, but a state title gets all 15 dudes on the map, and coaches, and it just makes your school a better place and environment. So, 100%, will take the state championship.”
It’s a sentiment awfully reminiscent of another Colorado basketball icon, Nikola Jokic, who once said, “Passing makes two people happy. Scoring only makes one person happy.”
With CHSAA’s 2023 Boys Basketball State Championships quickly approaching, Austin will soon have another chance to bring tremendous joy to the Pueblo South community.