Basketball: Morris follows hoops, biking paths

Basketball and biking is not the usual combination for a high school athlete, but it works for Austin Morris.

Morris is a three-year letterman and a senior guard who is averaging 17 points per game for the Gentry Pioneers. His ability on the basketball court is surpassed only by his passion for mountain biking, where he's won his last eight races.

In both sports, Morris displays the competitive fire that makes an athlete elite.

"For us, Austin brings a toughness and willingness to win that raises our entire team," Gentry boys basketball coach Brent Hester said. "He makes everybody on the floor better because he refuses to lose."

Morris is just now hitting his groove on the basketball court after missing several games because of an injury he suffered while mountain biking. He was unable to grip a basketball after he shattered bones on his pinkie finger when he flipped over the handle bars of his bike during a race in Hot Springs.

"When I went down, my finger got caught up in the chain and I shattered six bones," Morris said. "It was just twisted, twisted, twisted. When I got up and looked at my glove, I knew my finger was broken. But I straightened it out, finished the race, and won."

The fact Morris finished the race after his accident doesn't surprise his coach.

"We suspect Austin doesn't feel pain like the rest of us," Hester said. "He can put it in the back of his mind, or whatever he does, and fight through it."

Morris led Gentry (7-7, 5-5) with 18 points in a win at Greenland last week and 15 points in loss to Pea Ridge (17-10, 10-0) on Tuesday. He said his transition to basketball is helped by his conditioning on the mountain bike trails in the summer.

"Mountain biking helps with basketball because I got into such good shape once I began racing competitively," Morris said. "I had the fitness that most others didn't have. It shows in practice and it shows in the games."

There's rarely a healthy child who hasn't been on a bike. But Morris took it a step further beginning at age seven when his dad, Clark Morris, signed him up for a race at Eureka Springs.

The first time Morris felt the wind on his face and the rush of mountain bike racing, he was hooked.

"It was at the Fat Tire Festival in the 10-and-Under Division," Morris said. "Me and my older brother, Dalton, were the only ones in the division. It was a hard, eight- or nine-mile race and it was no fun. But we loved it."

Morris often competes in Ultra Endurance Races, which can be six- to 12-hour marathons on gravel, mountains, hills, pavement, rocks, mud, or dirt in all kinds of weather. Just finishing the race is a huge challenge and an important factor in why Morris participates.

"You can play a basketball or football game and lose, and you're going to feel down about it," Morris said. "But you don't have to win in mountain biking to feel like you've accomplished something. When you've finished, you've beaten the trail, whatever it is, and that's something to be proud of."

Morris owns three bikes he rides consistently; a road bike for training, a gravel bike for his participation in the Ultra Endurance Races, and pure mountain bike for most other races. The equipment can be expense, which his father mostly finances.

"What my dad does for me is unbelievable," said Morris, who works in his father's Novus safety products shop in Tontitown after school. "Most bikes are anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 and I have three of them. That's just surreal support from a man out of the pure kindness of his heart."

Morris hasn't decided which career path he'll pursue after high school, but biking is sure to be in his future.

"There's guys literally making a living in biking," Morris said. "I don't think I'll end up racing as a pro on a national level, but maybe something more regional. I'll be involved in some way, for sure."

Sports on 01/19/2017