news-record.com

GREENSBORO — P.J. Hairston, the rising senior basketball star who has committed to play for North Carolina starting in the fall of 2011, will not return to Dudley for his final high school season and will instead attend Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., recruiting website Scout.com reported Monday night.

Calls to Hairston's mother, Dudley head coach David Price and Hargrave's basketball coach and athletics director were not returned Monday night.

Hairston, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound wing ranked the No. 8 prospect in his class by Scout.com, averaged 27 points and eight rebounds per game this season for Dudley, which won the Metro 4-A and advanced to the regional semifinals. Hairston was voted the News & Record Player of the Year for a second consecutive season by area coaches.

Hairston would have been far and away the area's top returning player, and his departure leaves plenty of questions for the Panthers, who were already losing point guard Brennan Wyatt to graduation. Hairston, who had added about 40 pounds of muscle since his freshman year, won conference and regional player of the year honors last season.

"I've seen him go from being a good player to every year getting better and better and stronger and stronger," Price said in March.

Hargrave, a private boarding school of about 370 students located 20 miles north of Danville, is a magnet for players of Hairston's caliber. The Wildcats featured no fewer than a dozen Division I prospects last season, including N.C. State commitment Lorenzo Brown and two other players ranked in USA Today's top 100 for the Class of 2010. Hargrave alumni include current NBA stars Josh Howard (Wake Forest) and David West (Xavier) and former Maryland standout Lonny Baxter. Recent professional players Korleone Young, Kenny Inge, James White, Joe Alexander and Marresse Speights also played for the school.

Hairston was selected as one of 21 players from across the country to attend the USA Basketball Men's U18 National Team training camp next month, where he will compete for a chance to play for his country at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

He and fellow North Carolina-bound forward James McAdoo are the only two top-10 members of their class, as ranked by Scout, to commit to a college.

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com