Mary Washington’s Kye Robinson could not fathom that his chance to win a national title would unravel like this, with a slip.
The sophomore guard had already poured in 27 points in the Division III men’s basketball championship on Sunday against Emory. He needed only two more, one final shot to seal it.
His Eagles led 63-50 with less than five minutes left. That lead had now vanished, a 3-pointer from Emory’s Ethan Fauss with 13 seconds left tying the game, placing the moment squarely in Robinson’s hands.
He drove left and flashed open for a moment near the baseline, but his body betrayed him. His leg buckled, he slipped and just threw the ball in the direction of the rim, missing everything.
“That was the failure of a lifetime, and I loved it,” Robinson said. “I loved every second of it.”
“Failure” proved a misnomer. Luckily for Robinson and Mary Washington, sophomore forward Colin Mitchell was in position for the offensive rebound and tip-in as time expired, securing the first NCAA title in program history for the school of about 4,000 students in Fredericksburg, Va.
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙃𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 🔥@UMW_Basketball’s Colin Mitchell’s game-winner is the No. 1 play on @SportsCenter ‼️#GetDirtyGoWash 🦅 x #d3hoops 🏀 pic.twitter.com/60czHtFUPX
— UMW Athletics (@UMWathletics) April 6, 2026
Mitchell sensed the opportunity. He saw his defender abandon him, chasing Robinson in an attempt to make the defensive stop and send the game to overtime at 73.
Robinson, mid-fall, sensed it too.
“The first split second I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m about to send this game to overtime just because I slipped,’” he said.
“I was just trying to get it near the rim because I saw our jerseys around the rim. So I was like, ‘All right, if I at least get it near the rim, then someone can maybe make a play on it if I miss it.’ And thankfully, Colin made that play.’”
Kye Robinson was all smiles after scoring a game-high 27 points and misfiring on the shot that led to the national-title clinching putback. (Jack Dempsey/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Mitchell’s presence and readiness was not happenstance. He said that during the 15 days between the semifinal game and the title matchup, coach Marcus Kahn had fixated on offensive rebounding, anticipating that Emory’s zone would yield opportunities along the glass.
The attention to detail proved decisive.
“We talked about it for the weeks leading up to the game,” Mitchell said. “Then also during the pregame, (that) we would be able to get some offensive rebounds when they were in their zone. So it was just being in the right place at the right time. And I was.”
It was a heartbreaking end for Emory after a herculean effort to even force the need for a winning shot. Emory (27-4) was up at the half, 30-28, and trailed by one with just under 13 minutes to play. But Mary Washington (30-3) unleashed a 14-2 run over the next seven minutes to build the 13-point lead with 4:49 left.
Basketball, though, is a game of runs, and Emory went on one of its own to erase that margin.
“They came on a run to end the game,” Mitchell said. “They’re a really good team. They wouldn’t be here for no reason. So we knew we needed to stay level-headed.”
Senior guard Jair Knight and Fauss each scored 24 for Emory, including 10 from Fauss during the furious comeback. Fauss, a junior forward, also hit six 3-pointers, none bigger than the game-tying one as the clock ran toward zero.
It echoed Marcus Paige’s 3-pointer for North Carolina with the clock winding down in the 2016 Division I championship against Villanova. And like Paige’s, overshadowed by a title-winning buzzer beater from Kris Jenkins moments later, the clutch shot might get lost to what followed it.
Colin Mitchell is mobbed by his Eagles teammates after the game winner. (Courtesy of Mary Washington)
Because Robinson slipped and fell, but knew he had to just throw it up. Because Kahn knew days in advance that offensive rebounding would prove pivotal. Because Mitchell was in position.
“I was like, ‘Please just air ball,’” Mitchell said. “’Please just right here.’ And as he said earlier, it’s the best air ball of his life. Just perfect timing.”