Trinity-Tufts rematch, Chicago and Mary Washington

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Mar 14, 2026
Mary Washington survived in the closing moments as Josh Seworder hit two foul shots to seal the win with one second left.
Photo by Mike Atherton, d3photography.com
 

Trinity (Conn.) finally played a complete game in this NCAA Tournament, as the defending champion rolled past Hood to book a trip to the Elite Eight. Tufts got Scott Gyimesi back and rolled past Wesleyan, while the University of Chicago survived a buzzer beater attempt by Gustavus Adolphus and Mary Washington got past UW-La Crosse to advance to Fort Wayne, Indiana as well.

In the Elite Eight, four of the games will feature No. 1 seeds vs. No. 3 seeds, and the other is No. 1 vs. No. 2.

Elite Eight schedule

Thursday, March 19
St. Thomas, Texas (29-1) vs. Christopher Newport (24-5), 1 p.m.
Emory (25-3) vs. Illinois Wesleyan (26-4), 3:30 p.m.
Trinity, Conn. (28-2) vs. Tufts (23-5), 6:30 p.m.
Chicago (24-4) vs. Mary Washington (27-3), 9 p.m.

Trinity (Conn.), the defending national champion, found itself down by double-digits in each of its first two NCAA Tournament games, but the Bantams shook off those performances and led wire-to-wire as the Bantams defeated No. 5 seeded Hood, 88-71. Jevon Yarbrough did get 28 points, six assists and seven rebounds for the Blazers, but Trinity answered with 24 points from Jarrel Okorougo and 20 from Henry Vetter. The Bantams scored the first 12 points, weathered a second-half run and were able to put Hood away. Photo gallery from d3photography.com.

It's the third consecutive trip to the Elite Eight for the Bantams, who improved to 28-2 overall.

Ricardo Nieves scored a game-high 21 points, and Joshua Bernstein added 17 points and 12 rebounds as third-seeded Tufts won at second-seeded Wesleyan, 75-61. The Jumbos (23-5) jumped out to an 18-4 lead and took a 22-point lead into the locker room at halftime after a Nieves three-pointer. It was his third three-ball of the half. Gyimesi came off the bench early in the first half and scored off an inbounds pass, after missing multiple games with a lower body injury. It was his only bucket of the game, but he was able to play 14 minutes.

"It was a long week coming Saturday to Saturday, so I think guys were just itching and ready to go," said Tufts coach Brandon Linton. "Obviously one of those adverse moments in our year was losing to Wesleyan at home ... in a game we felt like we had control and we just let it slip away. So, that factor, plus a chance to get to an Elite Eight for only the second time in program history, I think that's what you saw in that first half was just guys playing with their hair on fire."

Kye Robinson got 35 points and 11 rebounds as Mary Washington returned to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015, as the Eagles defeated the Eagles of UW-La Crosse, 73-68 in front of a crowd of 1,875 in Fredericksburg, Va. Mary Washington finished the game on a 16-6 run to bounce back from a 62-57 deficit as Mary Wash held UW-La Crosse without a field goal in the final 5:40 of the game. 

La Crosse went on a 6-0 run to take that 62-57 lead with 5:40 left. Robinson took over with a 9-0 run on his own, with a three point play and back to back long distance shots. A three point play from Jay Randall upped the lead to five, at 69-64, with 1:51 remaining, but La Crosse answered to pull back to within one, at 69-68, with 20 seconds left. A pair of Robinson free throws, followed by two more from Josh Seworder, capped the scoring.

Chicago trailed big in the first half, then led big in the second half before Myles Barnette put on a performance to remember for the Gusties. He put up and-one after and-one as the teams' heavyweight battle in the round of 16 came down to the final possession:

Chicago used a 60-24 surge to turn a 14-point deficit (27-13) into a 12-point lead at 73-61, with 9:29 left in the game. From that point on, Barnette scored 12 of his 40 points, including traditional three-point plays with 3:39 and 2:12 left, cutting the Maroons lead to 88-86. Daniel Cochran responded with an and-one of his own, and Barnette responded with a layup. He missed the free throw, but Gustavus controlled the rebound, and Andrew Quan fed Carson Koch for a layup to make it 91-90. Cochran hit two free throws and Obinna Izuora answered with a layup with 46 seconds left to make it 93-92.

After a Shane Regan turnover, Gustavus had the ball with just under 21 seconds left. The Gusties called a timeout with 6.7 seconds left, and inbounded again with 4.5 ticks to play but could not get a good look at the basket, and a forced shot did not fall. Regan led the team with 21 points and seven assists, while Cochran added 18 points, six rebounds, and four assists and Eamonn Kenah drilled four triples for 18 points as well.