NEW YORK – First-year guard
Robert Hinton scored a career-high 28 points, and junior guard
Chandler Piggé netted a career-best 26 points as Harvard Men's Basketball beat Columbia University, 90-82, on Friday night at Levien Gymnasium.
Playing in the first game of its first back-to-back of the season and competing in the second game of a four-game road swing, the Crimson (7-11, 2-3 Ivy) held a 46-44 lead at halftime, opened the second half with a 14-4 run, and led for more than 39 minutes on its way to a season-high point total in the victory over the host Lions (11-7, 0-5 Ivy).
Hinton scored his 28 points on 10-of-15 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws, eclipsing the 20-point plateau for the third time this season. Piggé posted his 26 points on a career-high 10-of-16 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws, finishing with 20 or more points for the second time in his career. Senior guard
Evan Nelson scored a season-high 16 points, and senior guard
Louis Lesmond netted 12 points as the Crimson tallied four double-figure scorers for the 11
th time on the year.
Harvard Highlights
- First-year guard Robert Hinton scored a career and game-high 28 points, making 10-of-15 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws alongside a game and career-best four steals and two assists. He finished with 20 or more points for the third time this season, scored in double figures for the 12th time, and hit 10 or more field goals for the second time. He led the Crimson in scoring for the seventh time this year.
- Junior guard Chandler Piggé posted a season-best 26 points on 10-of-16 field goals, 3-of-6 3-pointers, and 3-of-4 free throws to go with a team-high eight rebounds, team-high three assists, and three steals. Piggé eclipsed 20 points for the second time in his career and finished in double figures for the 15th time this season. He paced the Crimson in rebounding for the 13th time this season and grabbed eight or more boards for the 11th time in 2024-25.
- Senior guard Evan Nelson netted a season-high 16 points on 6-of-10 field goals, 2-of-4 3-pointers, and 2-of-2 free throws to go with a team-high three assists and two steals. He scored in double figures for the seventh time this season.
- Senior guard Louis Lesmond scored 12 points, hit two 3-pointers, and dished out two assists. He finished in double figures for the seventh time this year.
- Sophomore forward Thomas Batties II added six rebounds, four points, a team-high three assists, and two steals while first-year guard Austin Hunt chipped in six boards, four points, and two assists.
- The Crimson made a season-best 33 field goals and scored a season-high 90 points, reaching the 90-point plateau for the first time since a 95-89 win over Cornell on Jan. 21, 2023.
- Harvard shot 55.9 percent from the field in the game, marking its second-best field goal percentage on the season.
- The Crimson led for 39:25 in the contest.
- Harvard came up with 13 steals for its fourth game this season with double-digit steals.
- Harvard tallied four double-figure scorers for the 11th time in the last 14 games and for the fourth time in five Ivy League contests.
Gallery: (1-31-2025) Men's Basketball at Columbia
How It Happened
- Harvard jumped out to an 11-2 lead at the 17:24 mark of the first half as Lesmond and Batties II both hit 3-pointers inside of the first three minutes.
- Midway through the first half, back-to-back 3-pointers from Lesmond and Piggé pushed the Crimson's margin from 19-17 to 25-17 with 9:29 to play in the opening half.
- With Harvard still leading 33-27, the Lions scored seven straight points to gain its only lead of the game at 34-33 with 5:44 left until halftime.
- Harvard responded with a 9-2 run to move ahead 42-36 with under three minutes to go before the break. Piggé started the run with a 3-pointer before the Crimson then took a 46-44 lead into the locker room.
- The Crimson opened the second half on a 14-4 run, taking a 60-48 lead with 14:36 to play. Nelson started and ended the stretch with 3-pointers, while Hinton punctuated the streak with a transition dunk.
- A jumper from Nelson and 3-pointer from Piggé pushed Harvard's lead to 13 points at 65-52 with 12:22 left as the visitors claimed their largest lead of the game.
- After Columbia pulled within 69-62, the Crimson answered with a 9-3 spurt to push the margin back to 13 points at 78-65 with 4:57 to go. Harvard maintained at least a seven-point advantage the rest of the way.
Postgame Quotes
"We played hard. The coaches had told us before the game that it would be a game of runs. We came out really fast at the start. Columbia fought back, but I thought we showed a lot of fight and a lot of composure – except for the end maybe. Our team played really hard, and we're so proud. We're getting ready for this next one tomorrow, so now we need to switch to the next game." – First-year guard
Robert Hinton
Next Up
Harvard plays at Cornell tomorrow – Saturday, Feb. 1 – at 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+).
