THE LATEST LINE: INDIANS CLOSE, BUT JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH IN OVC PLAY

If they were playing horseshoes instead of basketball, Southeast Missouri State University's Indians would be building a heck of an Ohio Valley Conference record.

But close doesn't count in hoops. As a result, the Indians are right now on the outside looking in as far as an upper-division OVC finish goes.

Thursday night at the Show Me Center, in about as well played and fiercely contested a game as a fan has a right to ask for, SEMO fell just short again as Austin Peay claimed a 77-72 victory.

Up to that point in OVC play, that had been the story of the Indians' season: close but no cigar against the league's better teams, particularly at home.

In earlier home conference games, the Indians lost by two points to both Tennessee Tech and Murray State. And at Eastern Illinois, SEMO was within two points in the late going before the Panthers pulled away down the stretch.

Then Saturday night, the Indians dropped another home heartbreaker, this time to 96-94 to a Tennessee State team that is not among the OVC's upper echelon. That setback might have stung even more than any of the others because SEMO lost to a squad it had beaten by 31 points earlier in the season.

Rarely is a team going to win all of its close games, and the Indians have already pulled out road conference cliffhangers against Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.

Still, just an additional shot falling here or there in a couple of those other contests and the Indians would be challenging for a second straight OVC regular-season championship.

But such is the nature of sports. In close games, you either make the plays at the end and win or you fail to make them and lose. The Indians simply haven't made enough plays down the stretch while their opponents have. Hence, they're in sixth place in the league and now need a minor miracle to even get back into contention for a top-four finish.

At 13-9 overall and 4-6 in OVC play, the Indians still have time over the final seven games of the regular season to make some noise.

But, with several extremely difficult games remaining -- including contests this week at Tennessee Tech and Murray State -- the road back will definitely be a rugged one.

* SEMO basketball fans should feel fortunate they've gotten to watch Austin Peay's Trenton Hassell -- who put on a show Thursday night -- play the past few years.

I know I do, because I have no doubt we'll be seeing Hassell in the NBA some day, if not next season then the year after that. And I don't think Hassell will simply make the NBA; I believe he'll be a very good player at the sport's highest level.

A few NBA scouts attended Thursday's game to watch Hassell -- he drew more than 20 scouts during an early season game at Tennessee -- and one said he believed Hassell would be a top-15 pick this year, if he chooses to declare for the draft.

* Sure, the temperature was in the bone-chilling teens just a couple of days ago.

But it's still just about time for some college baseball.

Weather permitting, SEMO will open a new season Friday when Iowa State visits Capaha Field for a 1 p.m. first pitch that will mark the start of a three-game series.

*n Wednesday is the first day of the national signing period and that's when SEMO football fans will begin finding out just what kind of new talent Tim Billings will be bringing to Cape Girardeau for his second season as the Indians' head coach.