Although Dartmouth received strong performances from Ronnie Dixon '11, who posted 18 points, and captain Robby Pride '10, who recorded 17 points, against the Quakers (6-21, 5-8 Ivy), the Penn duo of Jack Eggleston and Zack Rosen outdueled them and combined for 43 points in the Quakers' victory.
Eggleston also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Rosen, the Ivies' leading scorer at 17.8 points per game, tallied 18 points and was 4-5 from three-point range.
Penn jumped out to an early 10-2 lead. Although Dartmouth shot just 35.5 percent in the first half, it only trailed 40-34 at the half. The Big Green, however, could not close the deficit to less than a six-point margin during the second half.
"We kept the game close throughout," Pride said. "We just never recovered from [Penn's] quick start."
"It has been a tough season and we did not win many games, but this team fought its heart out right to the very end," interim head coach Mark Graupe said.
The loss was the final game for Pride, the lone senior on this year's team, who sank 7-8 from the charity stripe against Penn. He led the team in assists this season and was second on the team in scoring.
Dixon finished the season as the Big Green's leading scorer with 9.2 points per game, after scoring a career-high 20 points in the loss to Cornell on Feb. 20.
Princeton (19-8, 10-3 Ivy) broke open Friday's game with a 17-2 run. After establishing a 39-20 halftime lead, the Tigers continued to press in the second half, stretching the Dartmouth deficit as far as 32 points.
"We were just overmanned," Graupe said. "Princeton had a fantastic season and to try to go in to their place and get a road victory is a daunting task."
The Tigers limited Dartmouth to just 32.6 percent shooting from the field. R.J. Griffin '13, Dartmouth's leading scorer, posted nine points while no other Dartmouth player had more than five.
Guard Douglas Davis led the Princeton offense with 15 points, shooting 6-10 from the field and connecting on three three-pointers. Forward Patrick Saunders added 11 points and was 4-4 from the free-throw line.
The Tigers outscored Dartmouth in the paint, 40-14, and earned 20 points off of the Big Green's 14 turnovers.
The Big Green finished the season last in the Ivy League with just one conference win while all other Ivy foes earned at least five.
Dartmouth entered the weekend last in Division I in scoring, averaging just 53.9 points per game.
"I think the worst part was that we'd go into lulls or long stretches of time where we couldn't score," Pride said. "We never found a way to get easy buckets for ourselves."
Heading into the off-season, Dartmouth must search for a full-time head coach. Graupe went just 2-12 after replacing Terry Dunn on Jan. 14.
