Richmond, V.A. | Chad Tomko almost publicly let his emotions take control. Slouched over in a chair in the media room, Tomko bit his quivering lip, struggling to fight back tears. Georgia State had just KO’d the UNC Wilmington men’s basketball team in the first round of the CAA Tournament, 58-52.

In his teal career, the senior guard has been criticized for not communicating with his teammates during games and reporters have to lean forward during post-game interviews to hear the 5-foot-11-inch player speak. But, like he has for four years, Tomko kept his emotions from the public.

And for the fourth time in five years, the Seahawks were defeated in the opening round of the conference tournament.

“It’s disappointing but we had a good year,” Tomko said. “The ball just kept bouncing everywhere; it was tough to control the ball.”

Basketball is usually kind to the newly-named CAA second teamer as UNCW’s third all-time leading scorer. Friday was different, though. Tomko finished with 19 points but shot 7-of-21 from the field, including 3-of-11 from beyond the three-point arc.

The ball uncharacteristically clanked off the Richmond Coliseum rims all night for him and he coughed the ball up four times to GSU. The last two turnovers were the most painful, however, as they occurred in the last two minutes of the game when the Seahawks were trying to claw their way back into the game.

Instead, basketball had brutally chewed Tomko up and spit him out in the media room where he was forced to answer questions about the last time wearing a UNCW uniform.

“It was an up and down career,” he said. “We had a good first year but from then on it was a learning experience. We didn’t know what to expect this year. (The coaches) demanded effort and hard work every single day from the beginning.”

The whole team shared Tomko’s game struggles. UNCW (13-18 overall) shot a season-low 29.5% from the field and launched 29 three-pointers, only connecting on six. With eight minutes left in the game, the Seahawks launched 12 threes, but just one found the bottom of the net.

UNCW coach Buzz Peterson did his best to lighten the mood after the game. He looked at Tomko’s entire basketball resume and didn’t dwell on the loss to GSU. “Chad has had a hell of a year, just done a remarkable job for our program,” Peterson said. “He’s been the guy we’ve had to go to in a lot of key situations.

“You take him off our team, I don’t know how many games we win then,” Peterson added. “He can’t let this one game bother him. I mean, he’s had a tremendous year.”

Life after collegiate athletics can be tough on any student athlete. But, Tomko knows what career path he wants to head down. He told Peterson earlier this season that he wants to follow in his footsteps and become a coach.

Peterson joked, “I told (Tomko), ‘One day you’ll be in my shoes and get a hard-headed player like yourself.”

Even so, Tomko left the possibility open for him to remain at the university and still make his dream come true. “I’d love to come back and coach for him,” Tomko said.

Now that the point guard’s athletic duties are over in Wilmington, Peterson said it’s time the UNCW coaching staff “go to work” for him and the other two seniors, Ahmad Grant and Darryl Felder, with whatever their lives have in store for them.

While the future is uncertain for the psychology major, Tomko looks ahead without any regrets. He said, “I’m just glad I got a chance to play here.”