Robert Morris' Amarion Dickerson shines in front of hometown crowd

CLEVELAND — As Amarion Dickerson slowly walked onto the podium inside a Rocket Arena interview room, he wore a towel, as he often does, loosely on his head. His eyes appeared swollen, and he struggled to contain his emotions.

So, too, was the case for a pair of his Robert Morris teammates — Alvaro Folgueiras and Kam Woods — who, along with coach Andy Toole, accompanied him there.

Through tears, Dickerson said, “We all feel that same type of way. That’s it.”

Dickerson’s 25 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks — a memorable performance Friday in his hometown — weren’t enough to carry RMU to a March Madness shocker against one of the country’s best college basketball teams.

But, behind Dickerson’s inspired play, the Colonials fought hard, stayed close — even took a brief lead near the 7-minute mark of the second half — then finally succumbed in their NCAA Tournament return after a nine-year absence, dropping a 90-81 decision to Alabama in an East Region first-round game.

When it was Alabama coach Nate Oats’ turn to take the stage, he didn’t hesitate to show love to the 6-foot-7 Dickerson, a junior who just finished his first Division I season.

“That’s a hard-playing, athletic guy that gave everything he had,” Oats said before cracking a smile.

“Got two daughters here. Jocie, my middle one — she’s a sweetheart. But she goes, ‘Dad, I feel so bad for the other team. No. 3 (Dickerson) never came out of the game. He played so hard.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, but somebody has got to lose, and it didn’t need to be us.’ She felt bad he had to play the whole game, and it was nice for us he finally did foul out.”

For the record, Dickerson played 37 minutes, 13 seconds. Two other Colonials players also saw more than 33 minutes each as Toole continued to play with a short bench, using just seven players.

“These guys gave every day,” Toole said. “Through good and bad, through me annoying them, they gave. They gave.”

It was No. 15 seed Robert Morris taking on No. 2 Alabama. David vs. Goliath.

From the moment Dickerson and the Colonials were introduced before the start of the game, the crowd decidedly favored Robert Morris, a roughly 2-hour drive from here, which afforded a sizable traveling party an easy trip.

And not to mention all the folks who have been familiar with and certainly appeared eager to watch one of their own on a big stage. Dickerson grew up around the corner from Rocket Arena, home to the NBA’s Cavaliers and American Hockey League’s Monsters, and he attended James Ford Rhodes High School, a short drive southwest of Cleveland’s central business district.

“I’m grateful to go out there and have a good game,” Dickerson said, “but it don’t mean as much to me with the result we got.”

Before, during and after, chants of, “Robert Morris!! Robert Morris!!” permeated the cavernous facility. When Dickerson slammed home a bucket midway through the first half, the noise got even louder.

Though Robert Morris (26-9) trailed for the entire first half, Dickerson’s 3-pointer with 11 seconds to go before halftime got the Colonials within three, and they went into break down 40-36.

He scored six in a row in less than a 2-minute span midway through the second half to ignite one of several Robert Morris comebacks after Alabama (26-8) looked as though it would pull away.

“I’m not surprised one bit. I’ve seen it all year long,” Toole said. “I’ve watched it in practice. I’ve watched him in summer workouts and fall workouts. The guy is an ultimate competitor. We were down 10. He went on his little personal run there and got us back into that game, and I don’t think anybody that was associated with Robert Morris basketball is surprised by it one bit.”

After playing his high school basketball at Rhodes, Dickerson went on to Mineral Area (Mo.) College for two junior college seasons. Last year, he averaged 12.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.0 steals, paving the way for his transfer to Robert Morris.

This season, Dickerson ranks seventh in Division I in blocks with 82 while averaging 13.3 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Peering at a stat sheet, Oats looked dismayed when he noticed the rebounding numbers. Robert Morris held a 39-37 edge overall and dominated Alabama on the offensive end, 16-5.

Dickerson plucked six of them.

“We’ve played some of the best rebounding teams in the country — Houston, Texas A&M, Mississippi State have been traditionally great on the glass — and we’ve outrebounded them,” Oats said. “You look at a kid like Dickerson, he had more offensive rebounds than our entire team combined.”