Cole Morrow, Boulder High School’s star basketball player, isn’t much interested in the individual spotlight. Even when prodded.

This past winter, the graduating senior quietly averaged the third-most points in the state’s biggest basketball classification, leading the Panthers to their first league championship since 2016.

His final numbers on the season — which included 547 points on 40% shooting — made a strong case for an all-state selection but settled for an honorable mention nod.

It’s not something that you’ll ever hear him complain about, Panthers coach Matthew Smith said.

“I’ve never coached a kid like him. He’s the most humble, down to earth, calm kid,” Smith said of the Daily Camera boys basketball player of the year. “I’ve never coached a kid where you actually have to tell him to celebrate (individual) success. It’s like, ‘Do you even know that you’re as good as you are?’”

It’s not for a lack of confidence. Quite the opposite, said Smith, who raved about Morrow’s second-to-none mental strength. “Nothing rattles him. In moments of craziness around him, he just smiles.”

It’s just in an age of self-promotion, Morrow isn’t interested. “I don’t even think he’s got a freaking Instagram,” Smith added, with a laugh.

As a senior, Morrow averaged 22.8 points per game and took a Class 6A-most 20 charges. He crossed 1,000 career points in his final game — in the team’s first trip to the playoffs since 2020 — finishing with 1,009.

His best, arguably, came late in the season as the Panthers pushed for a postseason berth that had painstakingly evaded them the previous few seasons.

Over an eight-game span from January to February, he scored 30 or more five times, which ultimately helped the Panthers win the inaugural Rocky Mountain League championship and lock up a home playoff game.

As part of it, he hit a 50-foot buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter against Brighton in January — one of his multiple halfcourt makes during the season. That night it served as the spark as the Panthers rallied to beat the Bulldogs.

“I know I have to be a leader for us,” he said after it. “And my teammates give me fuel.”

His ability to bring everything back to the teammates still hasn’t wavered.

Asked about the best parts of senior year, he warmly recounted the dinners, hikes and out-of-state basketball camps he took part in with his team. Among his favorites came last summer, he said, when they all went to his grandparents’ lake house in Georgia for a few days to swim, boat and fish.

“We just had fun, got along and that allowed us to play more freely while we were on the court,” Morrow said.

Despite opportunities, Morrow, who is currently playing lacrosse for the school, isn’t planning on playing basketball in college. Instead, he said, he’s looking to go to school somewhere in California. “Just mix it up and do something different.”

Wherever he lands, his mark on his high school basketball program is grounded.

“It’s insanity to think about what he did his senior year,” Smith said, “as quiet and calm as he did.”