After more than four hours of opening night basketball at Lavietes Pavilion, the Harvard faithful were in a great mood following wins by their men’s and women’s programs.
The men (1-0) started off the festivities with a convincing 79-66 victory over Marist (0-1), while the women (1-0) pulled away late from in-state rival UMass (0-1) on its way to a 71-55 triumph.
The Crimson men welcomed first year Robert Hinton to the starting lineup, and ESPN’s No. 25 shooting guard recruit, lived up to his ranking.
It took Hinton all of five minutes to score his first bucket and take control of the game. By the final buzzer, the Los Angeles native finished with a game-high 27 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line.
“I was really impressed with Robert Hinton. Obviously, you can see he’s an outstanding player. He’s creative. He’s fearless,” head coach Tommy Amaker said after the game. “He had a spectacular performance – very efficient game. Certainly, you can see how talented he is.”
The Red Foxes, picked second in the MAC, were up 28-27 with six minutes left in the opening half, when the rookie went on a personal 7-0 run and sophomore forward Thomas Batties II added a dunk to give Harvard a 36-28 lead.
Marist eventually cut the deficit by one, 41-34, when the teams went into intermission.
The hosts had the score in its favor, as well as a bit of good fortune.
Sophomore forward Luca Ace-Nasteski tweaked his left ankle and junior guard Chandler Pigge was elbowed in the head during the half, but both were able to return at full strength.
It wasn’t a surprise that Harvard played its typically tough defense over the first twenty minutes, holding the Foxes to 39% (13-for-34) shooting and capturing six steals, but the young team’s offensive success, shooting 69% (11-for-16) from two and 44% (4-for-9) from three, may have been less expected.
The hosts improved its hot play in the second half, using a 20-5 run to make it a 65-44 game with just under 10 minutes to go in regulation.
A quick 10-0 run by Marist made it an 11-point game, but seven straight points by Harvard, capped by a triple from first-year guard Austin Hunt, upped the advantage to 72-54 and effectively put the contest away.
In the dominant second half, the Crimson shot 65% (15-for-23) from the field, including 80% (12-for-15) from inside the arc. While the Red Foxes shot 45% (13-for-29) from the field in that stanza, it was shooting under 39% until the last three-and-a-half minutes, after the game was out of reach.
While no other Harvard player scored in double digits, there was solid balance with five players adding eight or nine points.
Hunt came off the bench to net nine points in twenty minutes of action, and Ace-Nasteski scored nine, including a three-pointer which matched his total from all of last season.
In the eight-point group were Pigge, who added a game-high nine rebounds and three assists, senior point guard Evan Nelson, who played for the first time since the end of the 2022-2023 season, and Batties.
Josh Pascarelli led the way for Marist with 24 points on 10-for-16 shooting.
Amaker’s squad heads to Annapolis for a Friday 8:30 p.m. game against Navy in the Veterans Classic (CBS Sports Network), followed by a 2 p.m. contest against American on Sunday (ESPN+).
In the nightcap, the UMass women scored the first seven points before the contest was thirty seconds old, but Harvard recovered to notch the next 12 points.
The Minutewomen went on its own 8-0 run and held the Crimson scoreless over the next 5:42 to finish the first quarter up 15-12.
Harvard started off in better shape in the second frame, using a layup, two free throws and a three-pointer from junior guard Gabby Douglas to propel the hosts to a 23-15 lead at the halfway point.
After a pair of UMass free throws made it a six-point game, the Crimson finished the half outscoring the Minutewomen 9-4 to make it a 32-21 game at the half.
Anderson and senior forward Elena Rodriguez were in a groove, combining for 20 points on 73% (8-for-11) shooting over the opening twenty minutes. Unfortunately, the rest the team struggled with a combined 12 points on 19% (5-for-27) from the field, including an 18% (2-for-11) effort from first team All-Ivy senior guard Harmoni Turner.
Defensively, Harvard was in mid-season form, limiting UMass to 33% (8-for-24) shooting and one three-pointer, while forcing 17 turnovers and nine steals.
The Crimson had leads of 13 and 10 through the third quarter, but the Minutewomen cut the deficit to six points with three minutes left in the stanza. Buckets by first year guard Alayna Rocco, Anderson and Turner over the last ninety seconds gave Harvard a 49-37 lead heading into the last quarter.
After a triple by Anderson and a layup by Rodriguez, the Crimson was up 59-49 with just over four minutes to go and the hosts looked in good shape.
However, UMass, wasn’t going away and the Minutewomen used a 9-2 run in a two-minute span to make it a one-possession game, 61-58, with 1:47 left in regulation.
After the two teams traded missed shots, Turner found Saniyah Glenn-Bello on the left elbow and the junior guard sank a three to make it a six-point game at the 44 second mark.
Rodriquez intercepted a pass in the lane on UMass’ next possession and threw an outlet pass to Glen-Bello, who was flagrantly fouled on the breakaway. She sank both free throws to make it 66-58 and the Crimson got the ball back.
First year guard Lydia Chatira made three of her foul shots and Harmoni Turner corralled a missed UMass shot for a breakaway layup to cap Harvard’s game-ending 10-0 run.
The shooting wasn’t ideal for the Crimson, which went 36% (26-for-73) from the field, including 31% (8-for-26) from beyond the arc, but shooting 78% (11-for-14) from the line and netting 33 points off of 34 turnovers were really helpful.
Despite the team’s shooting woes, Anderson and Rodriquez each hit half of their field goal attempts and finished with 20 (career-high) and 18 points, respectively.
“Our offense was a little too messy for me,” head coach Carrie Moore told ESPN+ immediately after the game. “We’ve got to clean that up by Thursday. We knew we would have to rely on our defense, and we did that.”
One question heading into Thursday’s visit to No. 25 Indiana at Assembly Hall will be the role of junior forward Katie Krupa and sophomore guard Karlee White. The two started 28 and 13 games, respectively, in 2023-24, but came off the bench in limited roles on Monday.