April 12, 2006

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher announced the signing of Jerome Habel (rhymes with ABLE), a 6-10, 220-pound forward from San Bernardino Valley College to a National Letter of Intent on Wednesday.

Habel, a former top 100 prospect out of high school, was named to the Street & Smith first-team all-sophomore junior college team. He is ranked as the number two junior college prospect in the nation by JucoJunction.com and averaged 16.8 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per game in leading the Wolverines to the quarterfinals of the state tournament in March.

"We are extremely excited to welcome Jerome to San Diego State University and Aztec basketball," Fisher said. "He will provide us with size, experience and athletic ability that will compliment the returning players on the team."

A native of Washington D.C., Habel attended Walt Whitman (Md.) High where he was named to The Washington Post all-metro team as a senior and averaged 20.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, 7.4 assists and recorded six triple-doubles.

Habel joins Jervaugn Johnson (6-6, 225) from Centennial High in Compton, Calif., Jon Pastorek (6-9) from Canyon High in Anaheim, Calif., and Kashif Watson (6-3, 180) from Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas who signed during the early signing period. Three of the four Aztec newcomers were ranked among the top 100 high school players in their class.

"The addition of Jerome to our three early signees gives us an excellent group of newcomers who will bring versatility to an already excellent group of returnees," Fisher said.

The Aztecs will also add Lorrenzo Wade next season. Wade, who attended San Diego State this season, sat out the 2005-06 season after transferring from the University of Louisville. As a freshman, Wade was selected as one of the top transfers in the nation by Street & Smith's. He played in 35 games and averaged 9.9 minutes as a true freshman on a Cardinal squad that went 35-5 overall, 14-2 in Conference USA and advanced to the NCAA Final Four. Wade has three years of athletic eligibility remaining.

San Diego State posted a 24-9 record in the 2005-06 season, advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002, claimed its first regular season conference title since 1978 and joined Duke and UCLA as the only three teams from conferences ranked among the top nine in RPI to claim both a regular-season league title outright and a conference tournament championship. The Aztecs could return as many as four starters off last season's team, including Associated Press honorable mention All-American and Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Brandon Heath and second-team all-league performer Mohamed Abukar.