Penn State basketball is adding some much-needed scoring punch from the NCAA Transfer Portal, as Binghamton point-producing machine Sam Sessoms has announced his intention to transfer to PSU. The 6-foot guard led the America East Conference in scoring at 19.4 points per game as a sophomore in 2019-20, and also finished second in the league in average assists (4.8) and averaged 5.0 rebounds per outing.

Sessoms will have to sit out a year under NCAA transfer rules before becoming eligible for Penn State in the 2021-22 season. He will have two years of eligibility left. In its ranking of transfer portal denizens who must sit out the 2020-21 season, ESPN slots Sessoms as the eighth-best player available.

Sessoms announced his decision on Twitter. In a video, he said:

"I’ve been overlooked, counted out, doubted before I had my chance. I had to learn how face adversity, overcome poverty, fight for my own, be a dog. That all started here — West Philadelphia. They said I couldn’t compete against the best — did that. They said I couldn’t score 1,000 points — did that twice. I bet they didn’t think I could do this, but I did that too — and next year I’ll be attending Penn State University.”

For the rest of my college career, I will be attending Penn State University!! ???????? @PennStateMBB pic.twitter.com/XYnozybFj2 — Sam Sessoms (@samuel_sessoms) March 30, 2020

At the moment, Penn State only has one natural point guard in the program — senior-to-be Jamari Wheeler. Junior-to-be Myreon Jones can play the point in a pinch, but is more comfortable as a shooting guard. Incoming freshmen DJ Gordon and Dallion Johnson are both more natural shooting guards, as well.

So the timing of Sessoms’ arrival will dovetail nicely with Wheeler’s departure following his senior campaign.

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Sessoms continues Nittany Lion coach Patrick Chambers’ Philadelphia pipeline, albeit in a roundabout way. He’s a Philly native who played his high school ball at The Shipley School in nearby Bryn Mawr, Pa., before heading to upstate New York for his first two seasons of college ball.

At The Shipley School, Sessoms was a three-time team MVP and set the school record with 2,091 career points. He won PIAA AAA first-team All-State honors after averaging 28.6 ppg as a senior in 2017-18. Binghamton was the first Division I school to offer him, doing so in August of 2017, and he quickly committed.

He was the America East Rookie of the Year in 2018-19, when he led the Bearcats by averaging 17.8 points per game and shooting 45 percent from the field. He made 70 3-pointers while shooting 37 percent from the arc and led the team in assists at 3.5 per game. He tied the school record for points in a game with 34 in a loss to Hartford.

As a sophomore, he shot 42 percent from the floor, 37 percent from the arc and 81 percent from the line. He broke his own school record for points in a regulation game by tallying 39 in a win over UMass-Lowell and poured in 40 in an overtime win vs. Boston University. He scored 30 or more points four times and 20 or more 15 times. He earned second-team All-American East honors even though Binghamton went 4-12 in the league and 10-19 overall. Sessoms played an average of 35.7 minutes per game last season, which ranked second in the America East.

Penn State is coming off a season in which it went 21-10 overall and 11-9 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions were a lock to make their first NCAA Tournament since 2011 before the event was cancelled to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Here is a look at the class that signed with PSU last November.