CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – First-year guard
Robert Hinton led five Crimson in double figures with 18 points as Harvard Men's Basketball closed out its 2024-25 season with a 66-58 victory over Dartmouth College on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion in its regular season finale.
Completing the second half of Ivy League play with a 5-2 mark to conclude the year, the Crimson (12-15, 7-7 Ivy) held a 40-31 lead at halftime, gained a lead as large as 16 points in the second half, and countered a second-half rally from the visiting Big Green (14-13, 8-6 Ivy) to earn the victory.
Harvard tallied five double-figure scorers for the third time in its last four games of the year behind Hinton (18 points, six rebounds, three assists), senior guard
Evan Nelson (12 points), sophomore forward
Thomas Batties II (11 points), first-year guard
Austin Hunt (11 points), and junior guard
Chandler Piggé (10 points, five assists).
Prior to the game, Harvard recognized senior guards
Evan Nelson and
Louis Lesmond – as well as the program's six senior student managers – for their hard work and dedication to the program over the last four seasons.
Harvard Highlights
- First-year guard Robert Hinton tallied a game-high 18 points, a team-best six rebounds, three assists, and three steals, while making 7-of-14 field goals. He scored in double figures for the 19th time this season and led the Crimson in scoring for the 12th time on the year. Hinton closed the season with 393 total points, ranking second on Harvard's single-season scoring list for a first-year.
- Senior guard Evan Nelson contributed 12 points, three rebounds, three steals, and two assists, while shooting 5-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-4 from 3-point distance. He scored in double figures for the 13th time on the year and 24th time in his career. Nelson finished the year shooting 40.4 percent from behind the arc.
- Sophomore forward Thomas Batties II posted 11 points, four rebounds, three steals, and two blocks, while connecting on 4-of-5 field goals. He finished in double figures for the 14th time on the year and 21st time in his career.
- First-year guard Austin Hunt notched 11 points and four boards, while hitting 3-of-5 triples. He set a career high for 3-pointers made and scored in double figures for the third time in hjs last four games. He closed the year with seven double-figure scoring efforts in 19 games played.
- Junior guard Chandler Piggé totaled 10 points, five rebounds, a team-high five assists, and three steals. He scored in double figures for the 22nd time on the year and 30th time in his career, while leading the team in assists for the 11th time on the year.
- Senior guard Louis Lesmond added four points on 2-of-4 shooting, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block.
- The Crimson went 5-2 in the second half of Ivy League play, finishing the year with a 7-7 conference mark, marking its best league record since the 2019-20 season.
- Harvard registered five double-figure scorers for the third time in its last four games of the season after accomplishing the feat against Penn (Feb. 22) and Yale (Mar. 1).
- The Crimson came up with 14 steals – it second most in a single game on the season. Harvard forced Dartmouth into 19 turnovers while just committing eight turnovers of its own.
- Harvard led for 36:09 in the contest.
Gallery: (3-8-2025) Men's Basketball vs. Dartmouth
How It Happened
- Harvard claimed a 15-11 lead to open the game at the 14:08 mark as Nelson scored seven points during that opening stretch.
- After Dartmouth pulled ahead 19-17, the Crimson responded with a 9-2 spurt to move ahead 26-21 with 7:18 left in the first half. Dunks from Piggé and Lesmond and a 3-pointer from Hunt highlighted the stretch.
- A 3-pointer from Hunt extended the margin to 35-27 with 2:55 to go until the break, and a 3-pointer from Batties II and layup from Hinton gave Harvard a 40-31 advantage at the intermission.
- The Crimson opened the second half on a 9-2 run to pull ahead 49-33 with 15:15 left, taking its largest lead of the game at 16 points.
- After the Big Green whittled the margin to four points at 53-49 with 8:11 remaining, the Crimson scored six of the game's next eight points with a pair of buckets from Hinton prior to a jumper from Hunt that pushed Harvard back ahead 59-51 with 5:38 to play.
- Following a 6-0 spurt from the visitors that made the score 59-57 with 2:44 left, Hunt knocked down a 3-pointer to move the difference to 62-57 with 1:49 to go before Batties II and Piggé each hit two free throws inside of the final minute.
Postgame Quotes
"Really proud of our guys to be able to close after the gut-wrenching loss to Brown. To be able to hold the fort here at home, I'm just really pleased. I'm proud of the effort, their resiliency, and being able to bounce back. They could have easily hung their heads and called it a day. Particularly, our two seniors this afternoon, I was really happy for them to be able to finish in a way that they would remember." –
Tommy Amaker, The Thomas G. Stemberg '71 Family Endowed Coach for Harvard Men's Basketball
"Obviously it was pretty exciting to celebrate Senior Day. I'm sad to leave my teammates – they were great teammates and great people. I'm going to miss them, but I'm also excited for what's coming up. It feels good. Especially the last couple years this last game against Dartmouth, we've been losing it. We finally switched it up. Just walking out with a "W," it always feels good to win." –
Louis Lesmond
"I'm just thankful to be out here playing the game that I love one more time and playing for the school that I love as well. It's a blessing. The connections I've made, the little moments in the locker room, pre-game meals – it never comes down to wins and losses. I'm just going to miss the guys a lot. I think we're headed in the right direction for the future starting with this win today." –
Evan Nelson
"I exceeded my own expectations for sure. I think that just shows how putting the work in really paid off for me. This spring and summer is going to be huge for me to take that next leap. Going off this rookie year, I thought it was huge, and I think this next sophomore year is going to be even bigger." –
Robert Hinton
