TOWSON, Md. - Senior guard Chad Tomko, who wasn't expected to see much playing time due to a sprained ankle, scored a seasonal high 22 points as UNC Wilmington (8-17, 4-10) snapped a four-game losing streak by handing the Tigers (6-18, 3-11) a weather-postponed 80-72 Colonial Athletic Association loss at the Towson Center on Thursday afternoon.
Originally scheduled to be played on Wednesday evening, the game was postponed 18 hours due to a blizzard that struck the Baltimore area.
Tomko, who sprained his ankle in the Seahawks' loss to Delaware on Monday, shot 6-for-15 from the floor and made three of seven shots from three-point range to lead the Seahawks to the victory, a win that avenged a 58-53 loss to Towson two weeks ago.
In a very competitive game that featured seven ties and 17 lead changes, the Seahawks pulled away to win in the final minutes.
With the score tied at 57-57 and less than nine minutes to play, freshman forward Keith Rendleman drilled a jumper on a fast break to put the Seahawks ahead and they never trailed again. Rendleman, who scored eight points in the win, gave UNCW a 61-57 lead when he scored on a reverse layup with 8:15 remaining in regulation.
When sophomore guard Trevor Deloach nailed a three-point basket with 6:26 to play, the Seahawks extended their lead to 66-59. The Tigers never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
Tomko's clutch free throw shooting enabled the Seahawks to hold off the Tigers' attempts to rally. In the final 52 seconds of the game, he connected on seven of eight free throw tries.
While the Seahawks were aided by the presence of Tomko, the Tigers played without junior forward Jarrel Smith, their third-leading scorer. Smith was sidelined with the flu.
"In our last game, Jarrel had one of the best games of his career," said Towson Coach Pat Kennedy. "Early this morning we found out that he wasn't going to play because of the flu. Not having Jarrel meant we had to play with purely three guards and we couldn't take advantage of our size.
"We've had guys missing games throughout the season," he added. "Not having Jarrel is another bump in the road. UNCW looked more ready to shoot the ball than we did. We were not aggressive offensively."
The Seahawks, who made only 5 of 34 three-point field goal attempts in their earlier loss to Towson, connected on 10 of 20 three-pointers in the rematch. UNCW's three-point shooting was the difference in the game as the Tigers made only 4 of 18 three-pointers.
The Seahawks, who made 5 of their first 8 shots from three-point range, went on an 11-2 run midway through the first half to grab a 23-13 advantage with 10:24 remaining. The Tigers responded and used a 13-2 spurt to take a 26-25 lead with 5:59 left in the half. Senior Josh Thornton's three-point basket capped off the run and put Towson ahead.
But the Seahawks answered by scoring the next nine points of the game and took a 34-26 lead on a long three-pointer by Tomko. However, the Tigers pulled to within 35-34 at halftime on a driving layup by sophomore guard Troy Franklin.
Led by Tomko, who had ten points before intermission, the Seahawks shot 6-for-11 from three-point range in the first half.
Towson opened the second half by scoring 10 of the first 14 points. A fast break layup by junior guard Josh Brown gave Towson a 44-40 advantage with 17:06 remaining in the game. Over the next seven minutes, the score was tied four different times before UNCW started to pull away.
Junior guard Ahmad Grant added 18 points for the Seahawks as he matched his career high. Like Tomko, he shot three-for-seven from three-point range. Junior forward Dominique Lacy added ten points as he made four of five shots from the floor.
Senior forward Calvin Lee and junior forward Robert Nwankwo each scored 15 points for the Tigers. Lee shot 7-for-12 from the floor while Nwankwo made all five shots from the floor. He also had eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
Franklin added 14 points and four assists off the bench.
The Tigers, who outrebounded UNCW by a 35-32 margin, were led by Nwankwo and Brown, who had eight rebounds each. Rendleman had a game high nine rebounds for UNCW.
With the win, UNC Wilmington moved into sole possession of ninth place in the CAA standings while Towson dropped into a three-way for tenth place with Delaware and James Madison.
With the win, the Seahawks presented Interim Head Coach Brooks Lee with his first career victory. Lee replaced Benny Moss as the Seahawks' coach on January 28. He had lost his first three games as the UNCW interim coach.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday afternoon when they host Georgia State at 4:00 p.m.
