The Harvard men’s basketball team finished a tough first half of the season in style, beating New Hampshire, 72-62, in Durham after a 19-6 run in the final four minutes gave the Crimson the lead for good.
Harvard (3-7), which had lost seven of eight games, held a 19-2 advantage in fast-break points Sunday and had four players in double figures led by freshman Robert Hinton’s 15 points. Junior Chandler Piggé added 14 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals, and senior Louis Lesmond a season-best 13 off the bench.
The teams traded the lead 17 times, with the Crimson up, 23-15, with 5:46 to go in the first half before the Wildcats cut it to 30-29 at halftime. It remained a one-possession game inside the final four minutes of the second half, with a pair of Thomas Batties II free throws putting Harvard up, 55-54, with 3:52 to play.
The Crimson missed just one shot the rest of the way, with a 5-point flurry from Lesmond building the lead to 63-56 with 1:51 left and four Evan Nelson free throws helping salt it away.
Harvard shot 50 percent from the field, with Piggé going 6 of 9. He’s reached double-digit points in seven of the Crimson’s 10 games, and led them in rebounding in eight.
“He does everything for us,” coach Tommy Amaker said. “He’s our most valuable, our most important … he’s our most reliable and dependable player.”
Junior Anthony McComb III scored a game-high 21 points for the Wildcats (2-11) in the first meeting between the schools since Nov. 25, 2009. New Hampshire, whose roster includes just three returners, is yet to beat a fellow Division 1 school this year, its victories coming against Division 3 UMass Boston and Endicott.
Harvard is off until Dec. 21, when it hosts Furman. New Hampshire travels to Stonehill on Dec. 22.