Amarion Dickerson appeared in disbelief.
“A school record?” the Robert Morris junior forward said, repeating what someone just told him. “Really, a school record?”
But for Dickerson, honestly, it was business as usual. He entered the night fourth in Division I in blocks with 59.
The total swelled to 67 after he and his Colonials teammates shrugged off a heartbreaking two-point loss at the start of the week with a 71-56 victory over Detroit Mercy on Wednesday at UPMC Events Center.
Alvaro Folguerias scored 16 points, Ryan Prather Jr. added 15 and Dickerson scored 12 points and added a team-high seven rebounds to go with his eight blocks to lead Robert Morris, which avenged an earlier loss to the Titans.
Dickerson eclipsed his previous school record of seven blocks against Stonehill on Nov. 14.
Three days after allowing Wright State to score the game’s final 10 points in a 66-64 road loss that ended their six-game winning streak, the Colonials (17-8, 9-5 Horizon) got back to winning.
“Adversity comes at all levels,” said Dickerson, in his first Division I season after spending two years at the junior college level. “If you can bounce back from adversity as a group, that shows the resilience of a team. We’ve got a lot of games ahead of us. We can’t let that one game affect us. We had to forget that game.”
Kam Woods also scored 12 points, and D.J. Smith contributed 10 for Robert Morris, which won for the 11th time in 14 games and improved to 12-2 at home.
The Colonials remained in fourth place in the Horizon League but moved within 2 1/2 games of first-place Cleveland State, which had a 13-game winning streak stopped in a loss to Northern Kentucky.
“It’s hard to win games in this league,” Dickerson said.
Robert Morris next plays at Northern Kentucky on Saturday. In the first meeting, the Colonials outlasted the Norse, 97-94, in triple overtime Dec. 29 at UPMC Events Center.
Orlando Lovejoy paced Detroit Mercy (8-17, 3-10) with 17 points. T.J. Nadeau added 16 for the Titans, who dropped their 17th consecutive Horizon League road game dating to Feb. 17, 2023.
The Titans are 0-7 in league games on the road this season, but they managed to win at home against Robert Morris on Jan. 2, a 78-76 victory.
“All these games are hard,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said. “Every one of these games are a battle, and we keep trying to remind our guys of that.”
Robert Morris took a 27-23 halftime lead, then twice allowed Detroit Mercy to tie the score in the second half but never lost the lead.
The Colonials, who shot 51.0%, used a 12-0 run to pull away from a 55-52 lead and push the margin to double digits. Dickerson scored eight points for Robert Morris during the spree.
Detroit Mercy, which had its two-game winning streak stopped, committed 18 turnovers and shot 38.5%.
Robert Morris played without starting guard Josh Omojafo, the team’s fourth-leading scorer (10.7 ppg), who was out with a sprained ankle. He played just 12 minutes Sunday before being injured in the second half.
“We got good efforts from our guys off the bench tonight,” Toole said, mentioning Ismael Plet (six points, five rebounds), Chris Ford and Dilen Miller.
But Toole said it took a little extra effort in the second half for the Colonials to come away winners.
“I didn’t think we started the game with the energy we needed,” he said. “We were a little bit stagnant in the first half, but we did a better job in the second half, shooting almost 60%. We made some 3s (6 for 14, 42.9%).”
Robert Morris outscored Detroit Mercy, 44-33, after halftime. The Titans, while still among the bottom dwellers in the league standings, have shown a marked improvement under first-year coach Mark Montgomery, who spent 10 seasons at Northern Illinois before taking over at Detroit Mercy after the Titans fired Mike Davis following a woeful 1-31 season.
“Give Detroit credit,” Toole said. “Finally, midway through that second half, we were able to wear them down with some defensive urgency and energy.”