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S equestered at home from Phillips Academy for the remainder of his senior year, Dallion Johnson is naturally excited to begin his Penn State basket- ball career. He isn't so eager as to gloss over his accomplishments last season, though. Named in April as the 2019-20 Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Basketball Player of the Year, the future Nittany Lion added one final, significant honor to his list of high school hoops achieve- ments. "I'm definitely proud of it. I'm proud of myself," Johnson said. "Before the season, I wrote down some goals and I wanted Player of the Year. That was the biggest goal, and to accomplish that was just surreal because I know how hard I've been working. To win it, it's just great. I'm proud of myself." Awarded in every state to its best high school boys' basketball player, the honor recognizes "not only outstanding ath- letic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field." Johnson, a combo guard, earned the recognition by averaging 22.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals at Phillips Academy. In the process, he helped lift the team to the New England Prep School Athletic Council Class A semifinals and also became its all-time leading scorer. "Dallion is a special young man who has earned these awards as a result of an amazing work ethic," head coach Terrell Ivory said via press release. "Penn State is not only getting a great student-ath- lete but they are also getting an amazing kid who has been a role model and a leader in our community. He has made me a better coach and I am definitely going to miss him. I am also excited to see all the amazing things that he will accomplish at the next level and be- yond." CONTRACT TALKS CONTINUE The pan- demic-shortened season halted an oth- erwise historic campaign for Patrick Chambers and his program. Two years into a four-year deal that would keep him with the Nittany Lions through the 2021-22 season, Chambers is determined to continue to build, ac- knowledging his hopes for another con- tract extension "I love Penn State. I've worked too hard. I'm a Pennsylvania guy. I think we've put ourselves in a position to be a Top 25 program. And I love the team that I have coming back," Chambers said. "So I'm extremely hopeful that I will con- tinue to be the coach of Penn State for years to come. … I'm hopeful for an ex- tension. We're hopeful for things that are going to work out." Since succeeding Ed DeChellis in 2011, Chambers has compiled a 148-150 over- all record (.497), with a 56-110 mark in Big Ten play. In their past three seasons, the Nittany Lions have gone 61-41, win- ning the NIT title in 2018 and earning first-round byes each year in the Big Ten tournament. Were it not for the coron- avirus pandemic, which ended their 2020 postseason on the day it was sup- posed to begin, the Nittany Lions would have returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011. Athletic director Sandy Barbour said that prior to the shutdown of all spring sports activities, Penn State was work- ing to secure an extension for Chambers. "Pat and his representative, we were in that conversation before this happened," Barbour said. "So we've continued that conversation, as well as a number of the other conversations that we were in the middle of." TRANSFER HEADED TO PSU Penn State built on its four-man Class of 2020 through the NCAA transfer portal in April. Electing to leave Binghamton follow- ing an America East Rookie of the Year campaign in 2018-19, and a sophomore season in which he led the conference with 19.4 points and 4.8 assists per game, guard Sam Sessoms announced that he was joining the Nittany Lions. "Sam is a hard-nosed and tough lead guard who, as one can see from his stats alone, can hit various parts of the stat sheet," Rivals basketball recruiting ana- lyst Corey Evans said. "A native of Philadelphia who is a solid facilitator and has no issues creating for himself and others, Sessoms should flourish whenever he is placed around the com- parable sort of talent that will be allotted at Penn State." Listed at 6-foot-0, 190 pounds, Ses- soms will have three years to complete two final seasons of eligibility. –N.B. opportunity to return to campus. The Nittany Lions boast an honorable men- tion All-Big Ten selection in guard Myreon Jones, a 31-game starter in rising senior Jamari Wheeler, improved sharp- shooters in Myles Dread and sophomore Seth Lundy, a dynamic scorer in Izaiah Brockington and considerable leadership from big man John Harrar. Those players have given Chambers reason to believe that the Nittany Lions will be able to withstand the significant losses of Stevens (17.6 ppg), Mike Watkins (7.6 rpg) and Curtis Jones. "I've already put together a new lead- ership council, which is exciting, to talk about different ideas and what we want to do when [the pandemic] really slows and we can all move on. So we're really preparing for that and moving in the right direction," Chambers said. "I'm really ex- cited. We've got a veteran team again, a lot of seniors and juniors, who have a ton of shared experiences, which is awesome. So we're looking forward to moving on, but it's fun to reflect on what this team did accomplish." ■ Nittany Lion signee named top player in Massachusetts B A S K E T B A L L N O T E B O O K

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