State College, Pa. - May 19, 2004 - Penn State Nittany Lion basketball coach Ed DeChellis received his third signed National Letter of Intent of the spring with the signing of Ohio-native Brandon Hassell (Germantown, Ohio). Hassell, a stand-out at Valley View High School, brings Penn State's class of in-coming players to five.

Hassell is a long and athletic player who played at VVHS in Germantown, Ohio, for head coach Brian Gunter. A versatile power forward, Hassell has excellent perimeter skills that makes him effective in transition.

"We're very excited to have Brandon Hassell join the Penn State basketball family," said DeChellis. "He is an active and athletic player who has shown vast improvement over his senior year of high school. His best basketball is ahead of him and he is a welcome addition to our incoming class."

At 6-9, 220 pounds, Hassell runs the floor very well. Brandon averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game as a junior and a senior and owns the Valley View High School record for points in a game with 40 (a contest he also had 23 rebounds in). An outstanding student, Hassell completed the upper-level course curriculum at VVHS.

Hassell earned All-District honors as a senior at Valley View High School. He was also named to the All-League team and was an All-Southwest Ohio pick. Hassell helped guide Valley View to the Sectional Finals as a senior.

Hassell joins incoming freshmenGeary Claxton (West Haven, Conn.), Danny Morrissey (Cleveland, Ohio) and Mike Walker (Lewisberry, Pa.) as well as junior college transfer Travis Parker (Greenville, N.C.) in this year's class of five Nittany Lion recruits. Penn State could still offer one more scholarship for the upcoming season.