NOTEBOOK : Hoover Alumnus Hillman Decides to Take Best Shot in Australian Pro League

Joe Hillman is down but not out. Down Under, that is.

After surviving the Utah Jazz’s training camp until the final cut, Hillman has decided to pursue a career with the Melbourne Raging Giants in an Australian professional basketball league.

Glendale-area players Don Bickett of Glendale High and Kevin and Brian Goorjian of Crescenta Valley previously played in the league. Andrew Gaze, a former Seton Hall standout, currently plays in it.

Hillman, a standout in basketball and baseball at Hoover High and the University of Indiana, previously played baseball in the Oakland Athletics’ organization but was not offered a contract this year. He took a hiatus from baseball last summer to play with the Jazz’s summer-league team at Loyola Marymount. He had also spoken to representatives from the Cedar Rapids Bullets of the Continental Basketball Association.

During his senior season at Hoover, Hillman averaged 41.3 points a game--then the third-best average in Southern Section history--and finished with 2,213 points.

What dry is: The Crescenta Valley High gym was packed a week ago for the Pasadena game. It was, so far, the most crucial Pacific League basketball game of the season, pitting the first-place Bulldogs against Crescenta Valley, tied for second with Muir.

The joint was rocking.

Crescenta Valley, meanwhile, was bricking.

The Falcons missed 17 of their first 18 attempts from the field.

“They were good shots,” Crescenta Valley Coach John Goffredo said. “They were just rimming out, rimming out, rimming out.”

Goffredo’s team weathered the first-quarter drought and won in double overtime, 60-59.

New life: While the Occidental College men have struggled, other Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball teams have made positive strides. No conference member has made a more impressive turnaround than La Verne.

Last season, the Leopards were 5-21, 0-10 in conference play. They have improved to 15-5 this season and at 5-2 in the conference are a half-game behind first-place Whittier. Coach Gary Stewart says opposing coaches are just starting to take notice.

Not of the turnaround, of the school.

“We had coaches calling our office for directions to our place last year,” Stewart said with a laugh. “They didn’t know how to get here.

“We’ve been here for a hundred years, but it’s like, ‘Hey, they started a new university out in La Verne.’ ”