Harvard Men’s Basketball secured a 56-53 win over Brown University on Friday night at Lavietes Pavilion, maintaining its position at the top of the Ivy League standings. The Crimson, now 14-9 overall and 7-2 in conference play, built an early lead that reached as much as 13 points in the first half and managed to withstand a late push from the Bears.
Sophomore guard Robert Hinton led all scorers with 20 points, marking his eighth game this season reaching at least that total. Hinton made seven of his twelve field goal attempts and contributed three rebounds and three steals. “It’s always been a tough game. Brown is so physical and plays very hard. They’ve honestly had our number here at home. They’ve enjoyed their physicality and post play in a low-scoring game. It doesn’t help us that we didn’t score the ball as easily as we have in the past. Certainly, we didn’t make our free throws. I thought that was a critical point in the stats that we were 11-for-18 from the foul line. We missed some front ends which really hurt us,” said Tommy Amaker, The Thomas G. Stemberg ’71 Family Endowed Coach for Harvard Men’s Basketball.
Tey Barbour, also a sophomore guard, added 17 points for Harvard by shooting five-for-ten from the field and hitting three out of seven shots from beyond the arc. “I thought Tey was tremendous in the second half. I thought his play was outstanding. He’s such a marked guy, but he still found ways. I’m really happy and pleased for his development for how he has become – if not our go-to guy – one of our go-to guys,” Coach Amaker said.
Other contributors included junior forward Thomas Batties II with eight points, six rebounds, two blocks, and two assists; senior guard Chandler Piggé who collected ten rebounds along with seven points; and sophomore guard Ben Eisendrath who led both teams with five assists and four steals.
The game saw Harvard take control midway through the first half after breaking a tie at 12-12 by scoring twelve straight points—a run fueled by three-pointers from Batties II, Piggé, and Barbour. By halftime, Harvard led 31-22.
Brown narrowed the gap to three early in the second half before Hinton’s layup and Barbour’s three-pointer extended Harvard’s advantage again. Despite Brown pulling within one point in the closing seconds following an 11-2 run late in regulation, Barbour made two free throws to secure Harvard’s victory.
“Our guys again came together and really dug deep especially at the end of the game. We’ve seen us do that really well throughout conference play. I’m really proud of our guys. It comes from the practices, but we dig deep and come together at the end of games, and we’re finishing them. We need to make free throws – but onto tomorrow against Yale,” Hinton said after the win.
With this result, Harvard has won seven out of its last eight games and completed a season sweep over Brown (now 7-15 overall). The Crimson remain tied with Yale atop the Ivy League standings; both teams are set to face each other Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion with national television coverage scheduled on ESPNU and ESPN+.
