Freshman Robert Hinton Leads Men’s Basketball to Victory Over Marist in Season Opener

Freshman guard Robert Hinton powered the Harvard men’s basketball team to victory over Marist on Monday, dropping 27 points to help the Crimson (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) to a 79-66 season opener win at Lavietes Pavilion.

Playing a traditionally stout defensive team in the Red Foxes (0-1, 0-0 MAAC) — a team ranked fifth in the nation last year in points allowed per game — the Harvard offense had its way, shooting a healthy 63 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Down senior guard Louis Lesmond, who won the program’s “Iron Man Award” last season, the Harvard defense still held firm, limiting Marist to only 41.3 percent shooting from the field.

Offensively, the story of the night for Harvard was undoubtedly the debut of Hinton, a Harvard-Westlake product who Crimson fans hope will fill the shoes of Malik Mack.

“Obviously, you can see that Robert Hinton is what he’s built up to be,” Head Coach Tommy Amaker said after the game. “He’s an outstanding player, he’s creative, he’s fearless — a spectacular performance by him, a very efficient game.”

Hinton scored his 27 points off of just 12 shots, making nine and adding eight more from the charity stripe. After the game, Amaker praised Hinton’s creativity on the court, an aspect of his game that Amaker said was apparent since before he recruited Hinton during his sophomore summer of high school.

“Since my first day here, even when I was being recruited by coach Amaker, he said that when I'm here, he wants me to take advantage of my creativity,” Hinton reflected. “He's given me a long enough leash, freedom with the ball, and trusted in me so much that I feel comfortable out there doing those things,” he added.

Hinton’s older brother, Adam, is a junior guard for the Cornell Big Red. The rookie reflected after the game about the influence that his brother playing in the Ivy League has had on him.

“He’s been my role model since I was young,” Hinton said. “That constant pursuit of trying to be better than your older brother, I mean, it pushes, it pushes you so hard. Even to this day, he’s still the best role model, his personality, his character, he’s relentless. He’s a really relentless guy, and he pushes me so much, and I can’t wait to beat him twice this year.”

After falling into an early 10-3 hole, the Red Foxes showed resilience and bounced back to take a 28-27 lead with 6:49 left in the first half. Unfortunately for Marist, however, that would be their only lead of the game, as the Crimson turned it on to pull away offensively, leading by as much as 20 points midway through the second half.

Despite letting the Red Foxes come within ten points after a pair of sloppy turnovers, an emphatic dunk from sophomore forward Luca Ace-Nasteski and a triple from Hinton ensured a comfortable ending to the game for the home crowd.

In a team composed of more freshman and sophomores than upperclassmen, Amaker credited the team’s depth in wearing down a strong Marist offense.

Harvard had six players score eight or more points, including Hinton, Ace-Nasteski, sophomore forward Thomas Batties II, and senior guard Evan Nelson, who marked his first game back after missing last season due to injury.

“I've always talked about when we've been at our best and had our better teams, our philosophy has always been bench and balance, and you can see that here with this game tonight,” Amaker added.

The Crimson will continue its season next with a four game road trip, including two more games this week, the first of which will be the Veterans Classic at Navy on Friday, Nov. 8 at 8:30 p.m.

—Staff writer Alexander K. Bell can be reached at alexander.bell@thecrimson.com.