Photo: (Calvin McGowan) - Chad Tomko led the Seahawks with 16 points on Saturday night as UNCW gets ready to face the schedule’s toughest test.

In Saturday night’s CAA match-up, the Seahawks welcomed George Mason to a rocking Trask Coliseum. The proclaimed “Toughest Place to Play in the CAA” may have been that and as Coach Benny Moss put it “Trask was special tonight.” Riding their three game

winning streak, UNCW scrapped their way to a crucial 61-58 win, as they now must play the next three games on the road.

Led by Chad Tomko’s play at the point and the inside presence of Vlad Kuljanin, the Seahawks improved to 13-8 on the season and are now 6-3 in the CAA, good enough for their share of a four way tie for second place in the league.

Tomko, who is playing less like a freshman with every passing game, led the Seahawks with sixteen points as all five starters finished in double figures. He looked confident with the ball in his hands throughout the night, pulled up for his jumper when the opportunity arose and stroked some clutch free throws to ice the game.

The inside game is also coming together nicely for UNCW. Vlad, who had deserved the respect to be know by just that, tore down 17 boards while shooting 5-5 from the floor. He also seems confident with the ball in his hands these days; he was able to find the open man, quickly passed out of double teams, and wound up tying for the team lead in assist, albeit a modest three. After the game, Vlad told the Cape Fear Sports Report, “We’ve been working on passing out of the double team in practice, and if they don’t double I know I can score in the paint.” Vlad credited his experience playing with the Canadian National Team this summer in the Pan-American Games. “It really helped being the worst one on the team,” he said with a smile, “I just soaked everything in and tried to learn as much as I could.”

Todd Hendley looks more and more like the emotional spark plug. The guy who picks up his teammate and leaves it all on the court. And along the way, he seems to be having a very good time. With the game close in the second half, Hendley came out of the huddle after a time out and starting singing…”Heyyyy…heyy baby…I want to know, if you’ll be my girl,” with the boisterous Trask Coliseum crowd.

T.J. Carter and Daniel Fountain didn’t have a great night shooting, but it nice to know the Seahawks can win when they don’t fill it up. They were a combined 8-27 from the floor, but both scored a few key hoops at key times.

Trailing 35-30 at the half, UNCW looked out of sync at times on offense and to begin the second half, they couldn’t get things going, and Carter was the only Seahawk to score in the first four minutes as they came out of the locker room. After George Mason cut the lead to three points, 54-51, Daniel Fountain was left alone in the corner, not recommended by the way-especially not in the corner. His three pointer put UNCW up six with 2:23 to play.

But Mason managed to cut the lead back to three when John Vaughn, who led all scorers with 19, hit his third trifecta of the game. And that is when Tomko stepped up to the line on back-to-back one-and-one situations. Four free throws later, he seemed a lot more like a senior than a freshman.

Now the real test comes. Their next three games won’t be at Trask and the competition will b stiff. First, they will be facing Old Dominion, who at 5-4 in the league is just a game behind UNCW and then William & Mary and Delaware who are tied with the Seahawks at 6-3. All on the road. Can’t expect to win all three, but certainly can’t afford to lose all th. A critical stretch, indeed, but they will still have to go on the road after this to face CAA leading VCU and play at George Mason who will be looking for revenge.

So four in a row is nice, but Coach Moss told his guys of their recent winning streak and big win over George Mason, “If this is your highlight…you were focused on the wrong things.”