WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNC Wilmington raced out to a quick lead and set a school single game scoring record with 115-95 triumph over visiting VMI in a non-conference men’s basketball game Tuesday night at Trask Coliseum.
The Seahawks navigated VMI’s high-octane offense to break a two-game losing streak and improve to 2-4 on the season. The Keydets had their record evened at 2-2 on the new season.
Junior center John Fields led five players in double figures for the Seahawks, who shot 63.6 percent on the night, and posted his second consecutive double-double with 14 rebounds. Junior guard Chad Tomko recorded a double-double of his own with 20 points and 12 assists.
VMI also had five players in double digits. Sophomore guard Keith Gabriel led the way with 25 points off the bench on 9-for-18 from the floor, including 5-for-10 effort behind the 3-point line. Freshman forward Stan Okoye added 18 points, sophomore guard Michael Sparks chipped in 17, sophomore forward Ron Burks collected 12 and junior guard Austin Keon had 10.
In the first-ever meeting between the two clubs, UNCW fashioned a 57-44 lead at halftime behind the scoring of Tomko, Fields and junior forward Dominique Lacy, and the Keydets could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way. The Seahawks racked up a school-record 10 slam dunks in the rout.
After Johnny Wolf drained a trey along the right wing to put the Seahawks on top, 72-58, Okoye scored in the paint and Gabriel added a 3-point as VMI sliced the deficit to 72-63 at 14:14.
The Seahawks pushed the margin back to 80-66 on a putback by Fields with 11:54 showing, but VMI chipped away again. After Gabriel fired in a trifecta, Sparks, who finished with 17 points, drained another triple at 11:23, bringing the Keydets within eight, 80-72.
Junior Ahmad Grant came off the bench to provide a spark and lift the Seahawks midway through the second half. With VMI trailing 92-76 with 8:09 left, Grant scored eight consecutive points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to give UNCW its biggest lead of the game, 100-76, at 6:30.
UNCW broke the school record for points in a game with 2:22 left when Fields scored on a slam dunk to push the score to 112-89.
UNCW shot 60.6 percent in the first half to jump out to a 57-44 lead at intermission. Tomko, Lacy and Fields all reached double figures as the Seahawks took control early over the Big South Conference club.
The Seahawks scored 16 out of the first 20 points to build a working margin in the opening minutes of the contest. With the score tied at 2-all, UNCW reeled off 10 unanswered points, capped by Wolf’s triple at 17:16, and a putback by Lacy with 16:26 remaining staked the Seahawks to a 16-4 cushion.
A six-point spurt later in the first period gave the Seahawks their largest lead of the opening period, 54-35, when Wolf converted a steal and layup with 1:56 on the clock.
The Seahawks hit the road again Sunday with a 5 p.m. matchup against Elon at Alumni Gymnasium.

GAME NOTES: UNCW’s 57 points in the first half was five points shy of the school record…Point guard Chad Tomko had eight assists in the first period … UNCW’s 63.6 field goal percentage was the second highest during Benny Moss’ tenure (64.3 vs Longwood  on 11-23-07)) … The previous record for points scored was 110 on Dec. 4, 1976 against Baptist … The 210 combined point total was also a school-record, topping the 199 points in that same game … The last time UNCW had two players score at least 20 points was 2-21-09 against Elon (Downey (26), Tomko (20) … John Fields’ five dunks were the most since Anthony Terrell’s four against Hofstra on 2-2-02 … UNCW’s five in double figures were the most since a double overtime victory against Towson (103-98) on 1-24-09.

-Courtesy UNCW