LAPLACE — John L. Ory Communications Magnet School principal Cristal Sylvain remembers the first time she saw little Andre Murphy Jr. play basketball for the school.

It was a few years ago against the Lutcher Elementary School team.

“Andre was in about the sixth grade,” Sylvain said.  “It was a close game for a long time, and Lutcher ended up taking the lead. Some of our boys were getting frustrated because our shots weren’t going in. They were just looking defeated. Coach put Andre in the game, and he played that game like they were down by just one point. I just remember seeing this kid and thinking, ‘this is what you call perseverance. This is what you call finishing strong.’”

It certainly made an impression.

“This little boy was out there, and it was almost as if he carried the team for that moment,” Sylvain said.

Even though Ory lost that game, it didn’t matter to Andre.

“I just love to play,” he said. “I can express my feelings with how I play basketball. I don’t know how else to say it. It’s all about having fun.”

Basketball isn’t Andre’s only love, however. If he could, the now-eighth grader would play the game, score a bunch of points and lead his team to victory while also entertaining the crowd at halftime.

Murphy, 14, was playing the drums before he even picked up a basketball. As the godson of Calvin Berry, the leader of The Master’s Touch Drumline, he almost had no choice.

“I’ve been with them forever,” he said.

Added Sylvain: “He was almost born with a drumstick in his hand.”

Andre, the son of Kanisha and Andre Murphy Sr., has managed to combine his loves on occasion.

The Master’s Touch has been a frequent performer at Hornets and Pelicans basketball games. He even found the spotlight a few times with a Michael Jackson routine, during which he wows the crowd with his moonwalking ability.

It drew the notice of some folks.

“The next thing I know, I don’t know how, but my face was on a Hornets ticket,” Andre said.

That surprised even Berry.

“I guess they thought he was just so cute out there drumming,” Berry said. “They put his smiling face on the ticket.”

More recently, Andre loaned his talents to the Ory school band for its first Christmas concert.

The school was one of the lucky recipients of a VH1 Save the Music Foundation grant, which supplied instruments and helped the school hire Connie Sparacello as its music teacher. The band held its first concert Dec. 14.

“Most of them had never played an instrument before or had never really been exposed to music,” Sylvain said. “To see the actual product after only 15 weeks was really good.”

Andre said he went to the band’s practices and was asked to play the drums.

“It was really fun,” he said. “I like making people happy with the beat, with the sound. If they’re sad and you play a real good groove, they’ll bob their head, and the music will just come to their heart.”

Sylvain said it was typical of Andre to help his fellow students.

“He’s just such an amazing kid,” she said. “He’s always willing to help others and his teachers. He’s always so positive. It doesn’t matter what you throw his way, he will give you 100 percent — whether he can complete the task or not. I’ve never seen him half-do anything. He is all in.”