While the careers of Dixon and Weeden finished disappointingly on the court the team was just 29-83 overall during their four years Weeden said he appreciates his experience in Hanover.
"Not exactly the way I wanted to go out, but it's been a good four years," Weeden said. "[Dixon's] a great player, great friend. It's been a true pleasure playing with him."
Weeden retires after playing 109 games for the Big Green, making him tied for most games played in the program's 111-year history.
After the loss to Princeton (23-6, 11-2 Ivy), it appeared that Dartmouth would be able to end the season on a high note against the visiting Quakers (13-14, 7-6 Ivy) Saturday night. The Big Green came out strong in the first half, shooting 52 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond the arc, enabling them to jump out to a 34-21 lead. Penn, on the other hand, struggled in the first period, hitting just 35 percent of its shots from the floor.
Unfortunately for the Big Green, the roles reversed in the second half. The Quakers hit 59 percent of their shots, including an impressive 8-for-12 from three-point range. Dartmouth shot just 30 percent after the break, and 1-for-9 on three-point attempts.
"Their physicalness hurt us in the second half," head coach Paul Cormier said. "Even when they missed shots in the second half, they got too many offensive rebounds. For them to miss a contested shot and get the offensive rebound we can't afford to have those kinds of mistakes."
The Quakers snagged eight of their 10 offensive rebounds in the second half, leading to 12 second-chance points the same total as their winning margin. Putting together two consistent halves has been a problem for the Big Green all season, and continued to be the case on Saturday Penn outscored Dartmouth 49-24 after the break.
The turning point was a 12-0 Penn run midway through the second half, during which Dartmouth turned the ball over three times. Penn capitalized by hitting four three-pointers in a row to turn a four-point deficit into an eight-point lead.
The penultimate three-pointer in that stretch came from Quaker senior Jack Eggleston, who used just nine field goal attempts to score a game-high 21 points. Eggleston shot 6-for-9 from the field, including 3-for-3 from the three-point range. He was equally efficient from the free-throw line, shooting 6-for-7.
While the loss to the Quakers was disappointing, few were surprised by the outcome of Friday's contest, which pitted Princeton which had won 20 of its last 22 games against a Dartmouth team that entered the contest having lost nine in a row.
"They're a good basketball team," Cormier said of the Tigers. "To play a team like this, we have to play an almost perfect game. We had the energy tonight, but not the execution."
Lack of size was again an issue for the Big Green, as the Tigers' talented frontline was able to outmuscle Big Green players on the way to the basket. The frontcourt trio of junior Patrick Saunders, sophomore Ian Hummer and senior Kareem Maddox combined to shoot 15-for-22, contributing 35 of Princeton's 77 points. The 6'8" Maddox in particular proved too big and talented for the Big Green, displaying an array of post moves on his way to 12 points.
Even when Dartmouth collapsed on Princeton players down low, the Tigers were skilled enough to find the open man and set up an easy basket.
"They have a very strong frontcourt and they had some good passers out of the double-team," Dixon said. "They were knocking down shots today."
Dartmouth will now enter the off-season hoping to put the last two years behind it. The team has finished in last place in the Ivy League standings two years in a row, and the Big Green's two League wins over that period are the fewest in a two-year period since a 1-27 stretch from 1966 to 1967.
The Big Green has some young emerging players to work with Tyler Melville '14 assumed the starting point guard position over the season's last seven games but still needs offensive talent.
"We'll coach the defense, but we've got to recruit a higher-level offensive group," Cormier said. "I think there are a lot of players on this team that will be very good role players, but we're asking them to do things this year that they're really not ready to do."
