Last second Seahawk Saturday
Brant Wilkerson-New
Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Sports
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Silence wasn't in the vocabulary on Saturday night in Fairfax. Playing for second place on their homecoming, the almost 10,000 Patriots fans were nice and lathered up well before tip-off. Some message board posters say it was the best atmosphere they've ever felt in the building.
That atmosphere lasted all 40 minutes in fact, but came to a crashing halt when T.J. Carter made a game-winning bucket that was as smooth as Mason band director Doc Nix's all-white suit.
Welcome back, silence.
The basket was more than just a game-winner. It was an announcement, putting the rest of the Colonial on notice that the Seahawks are back from the depths of a 7-22 season. This team showed more fight on Saturday night than it did in the entire last season.
Oh, and the spark?
The Seahawks have run off a 9-3 record since Benny Moss got run five minutes into the loss to Virginia Commonwealth. A couple of good rolls, and that record could have been 11-1.
That stretch started with a win over Hofstra, a game in which Moss watched from outside of the arena due to suspension from the ejection. He had a simple message before the game - 'FIGHT,' in big, bold black letters on the board. Since then, loose balls seem to have found the hands of Seahawks more often than not and easy paths to the basket are quickly stuffed.
Three weeks isn't a long time in the grand scheme of things, but in the college basketball season, it's an eternity. Chad Tomko might agree, as the point guard has scored 15 points per game and only turned the ball over 12 times since the first matchup with George Mason on Jan. 26. Everyone knew what they were going to get out of the four senior starters, but Tomko was the question mark. Working the offense patiently and knocking down open shots has led to the emergence of the point guard, and in turn, a much more efficient offense.
As Moss said on ESPNU after the Mason victory, Tomko surely isn't playing like a freshman anymore.
His drives are opening up Daniel Fountain for threes and his entry passes are getting Vlad Kuljanin and Todd Hendley to the basket.
Tomko's maturity is great, but there is plenty of maturity to be gained from the misery of a 7-22 season. It's obvious these Seahawks learned from that and won't throw in the towel.
They know how many times more times they're scheduled to wear the UNCW jersey, and that there is only one way to extend it -- keep on fighting.
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