SU Lab 8th grader captures national NBA 2k20 championship

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Troy Murphy is unstoppable. And now he’s iced out, too.

The undefeated No. 1 seed heading into the High School Esports League Spring Majors, SU Lab’s eighth-grade gaming prodigy dominated the competition to capture the national championship, winning a best-of-five series Saturday, June 6.

Murphy’s win earned him a $1,000 scholarship and the school’s first gaming natty. The finals were streamed live on YouTube.

Murphy got his championship ring on Thursday, July 30.

“I really couldn’t believe it at first, you know, because I didn’t know how to feel, because I couldn’t believe it,” Murphy said.

Murphy posted a perfect 8-0 regular season record and a 4.0 GPA. He says he adopted the mentality of one of his favorite NBA players throughout the season.

“I just want to have the mentality of Kobe. He just wanted to win everything,” Murphy said. "That’s the mentality I want to have. I don’t want to settle for anything.”

“To see Troy working hard all year and to be able to pull this off is a blessing. He won his first scholarship towards college. I look forward to developing him in the next four years of high school. Hopefully, our program will foster the next generation STEAM innovators,” said Christopher Turner, Esports Director and Coach.

“When I sought out to start an esports program, I never thought I would have the number one player in the country,” Turner says. “I’m blessed to have Troy as a student. We worked hard and it paid off. Special thanks to our director, Herman Brister, Troy’s parents, faculty, and all my NBA 2k league coaches and players that I bugged about strategies.”

The esports program is currently constructing an Esports and Media arena, one of the first of its kind on a K-12 campus in Louisiana. If you wish to donate, you can help the school out here.

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