Robert Morris Seals Thrilling Win Over Wright St. on Amarion Dickerson’s Alley-Oop

MOON TWP, Pa. — Kam Woods found Amarion Dickerson for a highlight alley-oop with just 4.8 seconds left in the game which clinched the victory for Robert Morris (11-7, 3-4 HL) as they prevailed at home over the Wright St. Raiders (9-9, 3-4 HL) by the score of 75-72.

The Raiders nearly tied the game up at the buzzer when the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year, Brandon Noel, received the inbound pass down the court, stepped back and nailed a three but after the play went to review and it was determined that the potential game-tying shot did not get off on time.

The Colonials led for more than 30 minutes of the game but the Raiders did not make it an easy win for Robert Morris as the game was tied 10 separate times and the lead changed sides 12 times.

“Thankful, thankful, thankful to come out with a win,” Robert Morris head coach Andy Toole said following the game. “Since Wednesday night, we talked about when we get into these conference situations and they are possession by possession battles, just staying engaged with what actually matters which is the possession that you are playing.”

While Dickerson came up with the game’s most crucial points, fellow forward Alvaro Folgueiras led the way for the Colonials with 16 points and seven rebounds. Dickerson added 13 points and five rebounds.

Robert Morris had a total of five players finish with double-digit points as Josh Omojafo poured in 15 points, D.J. Smith finished with 13 and Ryan Prather Jr. added 11 points.

The Colonials quickly jumped out to a 10-2 lead behind an 8-0 run before the Raiders answered with an 8-0 run themselves as they tied the game up at 12 a piece. Later in the half, the Colonials went on another run as they scored seven straight points and built a 28-21 lead.

The Raiders missed eight straight field goal attempts during the Colonials’ second run of the game. Then, Omojafo went for a dunk which would have given the Colonials all of the momentum but he was stuffed by the rim. This miscue allowed the Raiders to finally get back into the game as they eventually went on a 5-0 run that was capped off on a dunk from Jack Doumbia.

Doumbia’s dunk gave the Raiders a 34-32 lead but the Colonials tied the game at 34 on a pair of free throws from Omojafo. This was the score as the team’s went to the locker rooms for halftime.

The Colonials opened the second half up with a dunk from Folgueiras but the Raiders answered with two and-ones, one by Michael Imariagbe and another by Noel, that resulted in a 5-0 run.

The Colonials responded with a triple from Smith, just their second of the game after the team started 1-of-10 from behind the arc. This gave the Colonials the offensive spark that they needed as they reclaimed the lead shortly after as they completed a 9-0 run with a deep midrange jumper from Prather.

Following his midrange shot, Prather settled in on both sides of the court as he finished with five rebounds and ended up hitting a couple more big-time shots including a triple later in the half that pushed the score to 50-45 in favor of the Colonials.

“[Ryan’s] been an awesome addition to our team,” Toole said about Prather Jr. after the game. “He is zero maintenance, he is in the gym all of the time getting up shots and so he works everyday, let’s you coach him everyday, let’s me say mean things to him at times. He has been great and he just wants an opportunity to be on the court and play. [Ryan] has added a lot of value to us.”

The Colonials tried pulling away following Prather’s three but the Raiders did not go away as they got two threes from Andrew Welage and pulled back within two. Fortunately for the Colonials, after starting 1-of-10 from behind the arc, their threes started falling at a high rate. The Colonials finished the game 6-of-19 from three-point range.

“We are trying to stress to our guys the importance of every possession of the entire 40 minutes and that is the area that is a little bit of a ‘let’s feel it out’ mindset instead of ‘let’s come out and dictate the terms of the conflict,'” Toole said about his team’s early game struggles from behind the arc. “Sometimes it feels like we have some guys that need to get a feel for what is going on out there before they get comfortable and make some of the plays that they are capable of making.”

After Welage’s second three, Smith came down the court and answered back with one of his own. Smith’s three pushed the Colonials lead to six which was the biggest lead of the second half.

The Raiders pulled back to within one multiple times following the three-point exchange before then finally pulled ahead by one on a pair of free throws from Doumbia. Omojafo answered back for the Colonials as he nailed a pair of free throws on the other end.

The Raiders jumped back ahead following another free throw another from Doumbia but it was answered with a turnaround jumper from Folgueiras on the other end with 2:03 left in the game. The teams would trade buckets and after a minute-and-a-half the two teams remained tied before Woods found Dickerson for the game-clinching alley-oop with just 4.1 seconds left.

The Raiders were led by Noel as he finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Welage added 14 points on a 4-of-6 three-point shooting performance. Doumbia added 11 points in the loss for the Raiders.

The Colonials will now hit the road for three-straight games away from the UPMC Events Center with a trip to Green Bay up first. Following the showdown with Doug Gottlieb’s squad on Friday, the Colonials will take on Milwaukee followed by a rematch with the Youngstown St. Penguins.