WILMINGTON, N.C. - UNC Wilmington puts its 18-game exhibition game winning streak on the line Saturday night when the Seahawks take on North Greenville University in their first public appearance of the 2009-10 season.

      Coach Benny Moss begins his fourth year on the bench without the services of starting point guard Chad Tomko, who underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Trask Coliseum.

      "We'll continue to see how we function without Chad in the lineup," said Moss. "We didn't have him for the closed scrimmage last weekend and things went fine. We need to have multiple guys continue to step up and do things in his absence."

      The Seahawks have reeled off 18 consecutive exhibition wins since falling, 71-57, to Virginia's Court Authority back on Dec. 12, 1998. The streak includes a 104-91 triumph last season over St. Andrews almost one year to the day at Trask Coliseum.

      "We really don't know much about North Greenville," Moss added. "We are somewhat familiar with their personnel. They are very well coached and are a disciplined team. They have a big player in the middle, Paul Harrison, who will test our new interior defense."

      Moss, who conducted a closed scrimmage against Winthrop, is approaching Saturday's tilt as a final opportunity to see how his club reacts to live situations.

      "We want to go out and play extremely hard, but try to be more fundamentally sound on some of the things we've been teaching. We're going to play a lot of different combinations and rotations, so we can start to figure out good lineups and others to stay away from."

      North Greenville is an NCAA Division II member that competes in the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA). The Crusaders finished 11-17 overall in Coach Chad Lister's eighth season in 2008-09.

      Harrison, a 6-8, 260-pound behemoth, led the team in scoring and rebounding with 16.0 ppg and 9.3 rpg, while senior forward Kyler Vitko chipped in 15.7 ppg. NGU averaged 74.5 ppg one year ago and dropped a close 60-57 score at Presbyterian Thursday night in its first of three exhibition tests of the campaign.

      Following Saturday's clash with the Crusaders, the Seahawks go through final preparations for next Friday's season opener at Appalachian State.

      UNCW makes its home debut two days later on Sunday, Nov. 15, when Atlantic 10 Conference member George Washington makes its first visit to Trask Coliseum for a 4:30 p.m. tipoff.