CLEVELAND — Amidst a packed Rocket Arena on Friday afternoon, the 15th seeded Robert Morris Colonials took the court against second seeded Alabama, in what proved to be a gritty, down-to-the-wire match.
Although stellar performances from many Colonials kept the Horizon League champions in the game, Alabama’s size, speed, and skill would be too much for RMU to overcome, falling to the Crimson Tide, 90-81 in the opening round of NCAA play.
Like many games against top opponents, RMU found themselves in a hole early on. Alabama would shoot out to a fast start, scoring five quick points before RMU would score their first points of the matchup. Even though the Colonials would find a way to put points on the board, the Crimson Tide would continue to dominate and give themselves a 14-4 lead inside seven minutes.
RMU would call a timeout and use the break to regroup, something they’ve taken advantage of repeatedly over the course of this season, contributing to their ability to stay in games.
“These guys play fearlessly,” Toole said. “I knew they were going to go out and raise their level. Anytime they’ve challenged each other as teammates, guys have always responded by raising their level, and today was just another example of that.”
It would be Amarion Dickerson though to settle the Colonials and boost the crowd. Playing in his hometown on his home court, the Cleveland native would lead RMU in points, offensive rebounds, and field goal percentage with 50%. Unfortunately, the headline performance wouldn’t be enough for his team to overtake Alabama.
“I’m grateful to go out there and have a good game, but it doesn’t mean as much to me, with the result we got. I go into every game, and I’m pretty sure the guys go into every game not caring about the stats, not caring about the numbers that pop up on the box score.” Dickerson said.
“Ultimately, we just want to win. I’m grateful to go out there and play in front of the home court and have a good game, but I just want to play with my brothers one more time.”
RMU would start the second half in similar form, with Alabama keeping the Robert Morris out of arm’s length. The difference between the two teams would range from two to six points, but with seven minutes remaining, Robert Morris would put together a 4-0 run to overtake the Crimson Tide, 65-64, again, in large part to Amarion Dickerson’s efforts.
“The guy is an ultimate competitor. They absolutely play with their hearts out of their chests, and he seemed to be everywhere when we needed a play.” Toole said. “I don’t think anybody that was associated with Robert Morris basketball is surprised by it one bit, because he did it tonight. Everybody has stepped up and made big plays, big shots for this team all year long. So tonight was Amarion’s chance and he took full advantage of it.”
Even with the slight lead the Colonials knew they’d have to withstand seven more minutes with the highest scoring team in the SEC, something that proved to be difficult for the Colonials to withstand, especially with missed shots on behalf of RMU.
Robert Morris would end the game with a 42.3% FG% and a measly 25.9% from the arc, a major difference from their previous run of games.
Something else that hurt the team was Alabama’s late inclusion of Grant Nelson, the Crimson Tides’ second highest scorer and leader in rebounds and blocks. Nelson was injured in Alabama’s previous game, and wasn’t expected to play, making his appearance all the more revealing to how close the game was.
The sheer size and ability of their opponents, made sustaining a lead all the more difficult for the Colonials. And as time passed, the Crimson Tide would grow their lead more and more, mostly through fouls and the free-throws that preceded them. Dickerson, along with Kam Woods, would foul out of the game, ending their season early in the ladder part of the match.
Woods has also been a standout player for the Colonials this season, and was named Horizon League MVP in the postseason tournament. The Alabama native now ends his collegiate career on the court he wanted to be on the most.
“Just being on the March Madness court, doesn’t matter who we play, we started out this year, we barely had fans at the games.” Woods said. “We’ll come out in warm-ups and there will be empty seats. But we had a sold-out game, we won the regular season, we won the postseason tournament. [We] started from nothing, ending in something.”
As the final buzzer rang around Rocket Arena, the many and loud RMU fans would rise to their feet to applaud the efforts of a team who was picked to finish 9th in the Horizon League this season. The conclusion means the end of a fantastic run for RMU men’s basketball team, one that Coach Toole won’t forget anytime soon.
“I told them in the locker room, they’re the best RMU team ever put together, what they accomplished, tying the program record for wins, winning the Horizon League regular season championship, winning the post-season tournament, coming in here as a 15 seed and going toe-to-toe with Alabama, I think they’re the greatest team in RMU history.” Toole said, emotionally.
“I’m proud of these guys, and obviously, we did not have a successful season last year, and so a lot of them took a chance on this program based on some of our best success, and then they brought it back to life. I told them I’m forever indebted to them for the way that they performed and the way that they worked all year long to get us to this point, and I’ll never forget that.”
