Harvard Survives Lategame Bear Scare, Beats Brown 56-53

Despite leading by ten with less than six minutes to go, Harvard needed near-perfect late-game play to ensure that it didn’t squander a lead that was as large as thirteen in the first half.

With 4.2 seconds to play, sophomore guard Tey Barbour headed to the line with Harvard up 54-53. Although he is typically a steady free throw shooter, Barbour had just missed the first free throw of a one-and-one, and Harvard — who entered the game as the most efficient FT-shooting team in the country at 81 percent but shot 11-for-18 (61.1 percent) against Brown — had missed its last three shots from the stripe.

Barbour stepped up and knocked down both free throws before Brown missed a potential game-tying three at the buzzer, giving the Crimson (14-9, 7-2 Ivy) an uncomfortable 56-53 win over the Bears (7-15, 1-8) at Lavietes Pavilion on Friday night.

“Once you start missing a few [free throws], it's kind of like, well, what's going on here? And then it becomes a little contagious,” head coach Tommy Amaker said. “Those last two were huge for us.”

“We need to make free throws,” Hinton said in a postgame interview with ESPN. “Still, super proud of our guys, and it’s onto tomorrow against Yale.”

The first 100 undergraduate fans to arrive at Friday’s Aloha Night received a free Hawaiian Harvard t-shirt, as Lavietes turned into one of the best home environments of the year. On the eve of a massive conference rematch with Yale (19-4, 7-2) that will likely decide the regular season league title, 1,194 fans turned out to support the Crimson, which has now won seven of its last eight.

Sophomore guard Robert Hinton led Harvard in scoring with 20, and Barbour scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half. Captain Chandler Piggé recorded seven points and ten rebounds.

Within the first few minutes of the game, it was clear that Brown’s defensive intensity would lead to a low-scoring game. Playing man defense, but double teaming and picking up full-court frequently, Brown jumped out to a 6-2 lead through five minutes of play.

Harvard responded with a 7-0 run of its own then, after Brown tied the game at 12 with a layup, went on a 12-0 killshot started off by back-to-back threes by junior forward Thomas Batties II, the second of which came after his own offensive rebound. By the time the Bears finally broke their scoring drought, a stepback three by Hinton had the Crimson up 29-16 entering the final media timeout of the first half.

As has been common in Ivy League play, Harvard struggled in the dying embers of the first period. Brown scored six straight points, and could have cut the lead to just five had sophomore guard Jeremiah Jenkins not smoked a wide-open, fastbreak, finger roll layup. When the halftime buzzer sounded, the Crimson’s lead was down to 31-22.

The Bears started the second half with a renewed level of urgency, going on a 7-0 run. Barbour finally opened the Harvard’s scoring with a 30-footer nearly three and a half minutes into the half, but it was clear that Brown still posed a threat through their persistent defense.

“Brown is so physical and plays very hard,” Amaker said. “We didn’t score the ball as easily as we have in the past.”

Despite relentless attacks at the Crimson's lead, it maintained its advantage for the rest of the game. Notably, Hinton had a highlight-reel and-one, where he felt contact then drew a foul in the act of knocking down a midrange from the left elbow. After the unanimous 2025 Ivy League Rookie of the Year knocked down the free throw, Harvard’s lead was 44-36 with 12 minutes left.

Brown continued to surge, cutting the lead to four before steady shot-making by the Crimson made the score 52-42 with less than six minutes remaining. However, the Bears’ final run of the game was nearly its most potent. Six straight Brown points had the visitors within four with 2:51 remaining, when Tey Barbour — who scored all of the Crimson’s points in the final six minutes — responded with a layup.

Consistent defense by the Bears had kept them in it, and, with 21 seconds to go, Brown had the ball down four after Piggé missed the front end of an and-one. After missing a good look from deep, junior guard Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson drilled a second-chance corner three with 4.6 seconds left.

Out of a quick Brown timeout, Harvard got an inbounds pass into Barbour who was immediately fouled with 4.2 seconds remaining. The Virginia native rose to the occasion, sinking both from the line.

A massive storyline for the game was another meeting between Hinton and Brown senior forward Landon Lewis, who were teammates at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. In a 69-59 loss to Harvard earlier this year, Lewis scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. On Friday evening, Harvard held Brown’s star big man to 17 points.

Sophomore guard Austin Hunt — who hasn’t played since leaving Harvard’s Jan. 17 overtime win over Princeton with an injury — was still absent from the lineup. After the game, Amaker noted that he still hasn’t begun practicing and “it would be a long shot for him to return anytime soon.”

Next up is a date with Harvard’s most significant other at Lavietes. On Valentine’s Day, the Crimson will play their most important remaining regular season game against the Yale Bulldogs. The game will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. EST and be broadcast on ESPNU, with a student radio call on WHRB 95.3 FM.

— Staff Writer Samuel S. Rudavsky can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @samrudavsky.

– Staff writer Emma Leifer can be reached at [email protected].