WILMINGTON, N.C. - Junior men's basketball player Chad Tomko of UNC Wilmington will be out 3-6 weeks following pending surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot.

      The 5-11, 165-pound playmaker will have surgery Wednesday afternoon at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Tomko has what is termed a "Jones Fracture," an injury to the fifth metatarsal bone, which will sideline him for the beginning of the 2009-10 hoops season.

       The Seahawks have seven games during the month of November, including the season opener on Nov. 13 at Appalachian State.

      "Obviously, it's never good when a player goes down," said Benny Moss, UNCW's fourth-year coach. "Fortunately we've detected it early enough that we can get him back in a timely fashion. This opens up opportunities for other guys to get meaningful minutes early. That will help us when we get into conference play, so it may be a blessing in disguise.

      "Johnny (Wolf) needs to step up and be a leader on and off the court. We've been playing him a lot at the point guard position anyway. From a leadership standpoint, he just needs to continue what he's been doing "