RENFREW Home-schooled for seven years, Jordan Harbison transitioned into Portersville Christian School in eighth grade.

He had played for the Butler seventh-grade traveling team, but his parents opted for PCS instead of enrolling him in the Butler School District.

"Bigger isn't always better," said Paul Harbison, Jordan's father, who has been the JV coach at PCS for three years. "I liked the personal attention he would get and we were actively involved in the school."

It all worked out for Harbison, who carries a 3.8 grade point average and recently graduated from the school's boys basketball program as its all-time leader in scoring with 1,658 points and steals with 325.

Now he has a chance to play college basketball, mulling an offer from Urbana (Ohio) University, which plans to move up to Division II next school year.

"It's been years since we've had a (boys) basketball player go on to college ball," PCS coach Joe Santoro said. "We've had a few go on to Division III in the past, but not recently.

"Jordan is just an all-around basketball player. He can penetrate, shoot from outside, dishes the ball off well and is stellar defensively."

Abbey Moose (Grove City) and Valerie Hamilton (Geneva) are recent PCS girls basketball players who played in college.

Harbison broke the PCS career scoring record that lasted 31 years. Jeff Partington set the previous record in 1978.

"We played our share of tough competition," Santoro said. "We played Sharpsville twice this year and played in a tournament in Erie against much bigger Christian schools. Jordan stood out in all of those games."

Besides playing for PCS, Harbison has spent five years of extended offseason workouts with retired coaches George Abraham and Albert Campman. He also worked on specialized speed and vertical jump training with Dan Glatz.

"He is a very committed and dedicated young athlete," Santoro said.

Planning to major in sports management, Harbison has received academic scholarship offers from Duquesne, Gannon, Allegheny, Geneva and Penn State-Beaver.

Urbana is offering an academic scholarship as well, with a chance to earn an athletic scholarship later.

"I'm down to Urbana or Gannon as my choices," Harbison said. "If I go to Gannon, I'd probably try to walk on and make the team. At Urbana, I've been offered a spot and that's tempting.

"Both schools have the program I want to study. There are a number of semipro teams up around Gannon that I could intern with, though."

Harbison has until the end of the month to make his decision.

Urbana is coming off a 6-21 season under first-year coach Jeff Porter, a Kittanning High graduate from Worthington.

The Blue Knights' lone double-digit scorer David Brown at 19.8 points per game was a senior last year. T.R. Ellis is the team's top returning scorer at 9.0 points per game.

Regardless, the 6-foot, 160 pound Harbison likely would redshirt at Urbana.

"When we visited there, Jordan had a chance to go on the court and play with Urbana's players for a couple of hours," his father said. "He got pushed around pretty good. He would have to build up strength to play in college."

Harbison has no problem with that.

"Coach Porter gets down to business," Harbison said. "All of his players respect him. He told me I'd be redshirted and I'm fine with that. I'd love to play for him."

Harbison's older brother, Matt, played basketball at PCS. The brothers rank 1-2 on the school's all-time 3-point field goal list. Harbison sank 63 treys this past season and shot 71 percent from the floor overall.

Along with his 3.8 GPA, Harbison served a mission in Kenya during his senior year, helping with a water system and spending time at an orphanage.

Now he wants to build a career in sports.

"Sports have been my love since I was a little kid," Harbison said. "I dreamed of playing in the NBA. I know that's not going to happen, so I want to stay involved in sports in other ways.

"If I can keep playing basketball ... That would be unbelievable. That's why I'm so intrigued by the Urbana offer."

Here are some facts about Jordan Harbison's basketball career at Portersville Christian School:• Varsity letterwinner for four years• PCS all-time scoring leader with 1,658 points• Sank 63 3-pointers his senior season• Ranks second on PCS all-time assists list with 271• PCS all-time leader in steals with 325