AMHERST, Mass. – Sophomore guard
Robert Hinton scored a game and career-high 35 points, including 31 points in the second half, but Harvard Men's Basketball's second-half rally came up just short at the University of Massachusetts in a 78-71 setback on Wednesday night at the Mullins Center.
Playing in its first game in the month of December and meeting an opponent from the Bay State for the fifth time in the team's first 10 games, the Crimson (5-5) whittled a 23-point second half deficit all the way down to three points at 72-69 with 34 seconds left before the Minutemen (5-3) held on for the decision.
Hinton scored his career-high 35 points on 12-of-22 field goals and 11-of-12 free throws alongside a game-high eight rebounds. Hinton eclipsed the 30-point plateau for the second time in his last four games behind a second half in which he netted 31 points on 10-of-15 field goals and 11-of-12 free throws. Hinton converted four old-fashioned 3-point plays in the second half and netted the Crimson's final 21 points in the contest.
Harvard Highlights
- Sophomore guard Robert Hinton scored a career and game-high 35 points on 12-of-22 field goals and 11-of-12 free throws alongside a game-best eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He eclipsed the 30-point plateau for the second time in his last four games, for the second time this season, and for the third time in his career. In the second half alone, he netted 31 points on 10-of-15 field goals and 11-of-12 free throws with four old-fashioned 3-point plays. Hinton scored the Crimson's final 21 points on the night. He grabbed eight or more rebounds for the third straight game.
- Junior forward Thomas Batties II posted 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while shooting 6-of-9 from the floor. He finished in double figures for the eighth time in 10 games this season.
- Senior guard Chandler Piggé added nine points and two steals, sophomore guard Tey Barbour contributed seven points and four rebounds, and sophomore guard Ben Eisendrath chipped in seven rebounds, four points, three assists, and three steals.
- For the game, the Crimson led in points off turnovers (21-16), points in the paint (42-36), second-chance points (9-5), and fastbreak points (20-17).
- In the second half, Harvard shot 51.4 percent from the field and outscored UMass, 50-42. As part of its second-half comeback, the Crimson heled a 21-5 edge in points off turnovers in the second half.
Gallery: (12-3-2025) Men's Basketball at Massachusetts
How It Happened
- After UMass opened the game with a 17-7 lead at the 11:29 mark of the first half, the Crimson scored six straight points to trim the margin to 17-13 with 10:08 to play in the opening half. Hinton netted four points during the spurt.
- With the Minutemen holding a 28-17 edge with 6:05 to go in the first half, Barbour scored back-to-back baskets to bring the Crimson within 28-21 with 4:29 on the clock. UMass then scored the last eight points of the half to take a 36-21 lead into halftime.
- After the Minutemen expanded their margin to 23 points at 48-25 with 16:20 remaining, the Crimson whittled the margin down over the remainder of the rest of the half.
- The Crimson moved within 50-36 at the 14:38 mark of the second half behind an 11-2 run as Hinton converted back-to-back old-fashioned 3-point plays before Barbour connected on a 3-pointer.
- Facing a 19-point deficit at 59-40 with 11:10 to go, Harvard responded with a 16-5 run to pull within 64-56 with 6:46 remaining. Piggé netted five points early in the run, Batties II hit a 3-pointer, and Hinton scored the stretch's final six points for Harvard.
- Those six points from Hinton began a stretch in which he scored Harvard's final 21 points on the night.
- After UMass moved the margin back to 12 points at 68-56 with 6:15 remaining, Hinton went on a personal 9-2 run to bring Harvard within five points at 70-65 with 3:00 left. He capped the stretch with another old-fashioned 3-point play.
- Hinton's fourth 3-point play of the second half cut the difference to 72-69 with 34 seconds left before Massachusetts made made six free throws inside of the final 30 seconds to hold on for the win.
Postgame Quotes
- "A tale of two halves for us. They're very physical and tough defensively. They made it very hard for us with every pass we were trying to make. They took us out of our offensive rhythm and anything we were trying to run. I was really impressed with that. That's typical of how Frank's teams have played – physical and tough. I was very pleased with our fight and energy to claw and fight all the way back to a possession game and give ourselves a chance there." – Tommy Amaker, The Thomas G. Stemberg '71 Family Endowed Coach for Harvard Men's Basketball
- "Robert Hinton put us on his back and tried to carry us to the finish line. I thought his effort and energy was outstanding. He's been our best player. It's obvious. You can see his talent and ability." – Coach Amaker
- "It was a tough loss. Our team did a great job in the second half of fighting back. UMass is a great team. They shot well today. They're really physical on defense and the boards. Basically, what Coach Amaker told us was that we fought really hard and came together in the second half, but even though it's early in the season and we have time to make progress and adapt, our goal is that how our second half was – it should have been like that the full game." – Sophomore guard Robert Hinton
- "It was a career high. The last few games I was not getting to the free throw line much, and a big part of that was that I needed to be more in control, especially driving down into the paint. Today, I made sure I used a lot of shot fakes and went off two feet to get to the free throw line." – Robert Hinton
Next Up
Harvard plays at Furman on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+) prior to the finals break.
