Dartmouth interim head coach Mark Graupe said that the game against the Quakers (3-15, 2-2 Ivy) was extremely important, as it offered the Big Green one of its best chances to secure a win at home.
"This was the most nervous I've been for a game in many years," Graupe said. "I was throwing up before the game tonight."
Unfortunately for Graupe and the rest of the Dartmouth squad, Penn handed the Big Green another disappointing loss.
The contest came down to the wire. With 16 seconds to play, the Quakers held a 53-51 lead with forward Jack Eggleston at the free throw line shooting a one-and-one.
To that point, Penn had been a perfect 12-12 from the charity stripe, but Eggleston clanked his first shot off the rim and Mbiyimoh Ghogomu '13 hauled in the rebound. Dartmouth pushed the ball up the court for one final attempt to extend the game.
Nothing, however, would fall for the Big Green. A three-pointer from Jabari Trotter '12 was offline, and Dartmouth had several good looks under the basket in the final seconds but could not convert any of them.
"We had some great opportunities to win the game," David Rufful '12 said. "It's too bad we didn't capitalize. It feels terrible right now."
Rufful and Ronnie Dixon '11 carried the Big Green's scoring load on Friday, both scoring 17 points. The two went a combined 6-11 from three-point range and accounted for 67 percent of the team's point total.
Penn was led by sophomore guard Zack Rosen, who contributed 16 points, including the Quakers' first 11 of the game. Rosen has assumed a leading role for Penn since the Quakers lost starters Tyler Bernardini and Andreas Schreiber to season-ending injuries earlier in the season.
"I think [Rosen] has done a tremendous job of taking on the added responsibility," Penn interim head coach Jerome Allen said.
The primary reason Dartmouth remained a contender in the game was its much-improved defensive performance in the second half.
After allowing the Quakers to notch a 66.7 field goal percentage in the opening half, the Big Green defense tightened and held Penn to just 27.3 percent in the second half.
Dartmouth was also competitive in rebounding, pulling down 28 in comparison to the Quakers' 29.
Still, the offense failed to capitalize. Although shooting 46.4 percent from the field in the first half, it let up in the second half to connect on just 27.6 percent from the field.
In its loss to Princeton (13-5, 4-0 Ivy), the Big Green continued its losing formula to keep the game close in the first half and sputter when the opponent makes a second-half run.
Dartmouth entered the locker room with a 21-19 halftime lead, but the Tigers outscored the Big Green 35-17 in the second half to maintain their perfect record in conference play.
Dartmouth's shooting woes continued in the second half, as the Big Green shot just 36.4 percent from the floor.
Out of 334 Division-I teams, Dartmouth entered the weekend ranked 319th in field goal percentage, shooting on average 38.5 percent, and coming in dead last in average scoring with 54.3 points per game.
The Princeton game marked the second time this season that the Big Green failed to score even 40 points.
"We've got to figure out a way to put the ball in the basket," Trotter said.
In his seven-year stint as head coach at Lake Region State College, Graupe was known as an offensive coach, he said. Now, however, the team is struggling to post big numbers.
"We're scratching our heads trying to figure out how to score," Graupe said.
There is, however, a large difference between the junior college atmosphere in which Lake Region State competed and NCAA Division I.
Dartmouth struggled in rebounding throughout the game but particularly in the second half, when Princeton ruled the boards with a 18-8 advantage.
Another factor that contributed to the loss was the physicality of the game, which did not play to Dartmouth's strengths.
"We're just not a physical team," Graupe said.
Despite this physicality, the Tigers played a clean game and committed just 5 fouls. The Big Green's 12 fouls not an unusual amount allowed Princeton to capitalize on 19 trips to the line for 14 points.
Robby Pride '10 led the Big Green in scoring against Princeton with just 10 points. Rufful shot 3-3 from three-point range but was 0-6 in two-point attempts.
The Tigers' offense was made up of a balanced team effort, as five players scored eight or more points. Freshman Ian Hummer led both teams in scoring on the night with 11 points, while junior Dan Mavraides contributed 10 of his own.
While maintaining its pristine Ivy record, Princeton also currently boasts the lowest points allowed average in the NCAA with 52.9 points. For the past two weekends, the Tigers have held their opponents Brown University, Yale University, Harvard University and Dartmouth to an average of just 45.5 points per game.
Dartmouth will again seek its first Ivy League win when it heads out on the road next weekend, traveling to Brown on Friday and Yale University on Saturday.
Brown (7-16, 1-5 Ivy) sits just above the Big Green in the league standings at seventh place, with its sole conference win coming over the Bulldogs on Jan. 15.
Yale (9-14, 3-3 Ivy) is coming off a 79-64 win over Columbia University and boasts the Ancient Eight's leading scorer, sophomore guard Alex Zampier, who averages 17.8 points per game.
