Bo Ellis was a star forward for the 1977 NCAA Basketball Champions the Marquette Warriors. He was selected by the Washington Wizards in the first round of the 1977 NBA draft and immediately traded to the Denver Nuggets.  

Playing with Denver as a rookie Maurice Ellis played in 78 of the Nuggets 82 games, scored 338 points, making 133 field goals in 320 attempts, a .416 percentage, and 72 FT in 104 FTA, averaging 4.3 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per game. In the 1978 postseason playoffs he scored 46 points in 12 games.

Bo Ellis played two more seasons in the NBA but saw limited playing time in each year – played 42 games in 1978-79 plus 3 playoff games, and 48 games in 1979-80.