Creighton Men Drop Game At Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Creighton men's basketball team pushed No. 7 Alabama but could not overcome the Crimson Tide while losing its non-conference finale, 83-75, on Saturday night at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Alabama is now 8-2 on the season, while Creighton will enter BIG EAST play on Wednesday with a 7-4 mark.
A Ryan Kalkbrenner dunk opened the scoring and a Steven Ashworth three-ball a short time later gave CU its only leads of the game, as Alabama quickly jumped to a 24-10 lead to force a Bluejay timeout. CU trailed by as much as 17 (27-10) and were still behind 33-18 before stringing together several stops and narrowing the deficit to 33-25 after a three-point play by Jamiya Neal and scores inside by Fredrick King and Jasen Green. The reserves help spur a 13-4 burst to end the first half as CU narrowed the gap to 37-31.
Kalkbrenner had 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks at the break, while Ashworth had nine points while playing all 20 minutes. Alabama was paced by eight points from Labaron Philon in the first half as the Crimson Tide was limited to 38.5 percent shooting after missing 13 of its final 14 attempts before the break.
Alabama needed just 46 seconds to score the first five points of the second half to push the margin back into double-figures at 42-31. CU used an 8-2 surge to return the deficit to six at 53-47 with 11:24 to play.
A three-ball from Ashworth with 3:38 to play drew the Jays within seven at 70-63, CU cut the gap to six on three-balls by Neal (72-66) and Jackson McAndrew (77-71) twice in the final three minutes. CU had a chance to get within three with about a minute left after a defensive stop, only to miss an open look from downtown and be forced to foul.
After two charity shots by the Tide, McAndrew got CU within four (79-75) on a four-point play with 24.4 left, but that'd be as close as it'd get.
Ashworth (20), Kalkbrenner (18), McAndrew (16) and Neal (13) scored in double-figures for CU, with Ashworth also matching his career-high with nine assists. CU made 45.0 percent of its attempts from the floor and 29.6 percent from deep.
The Crimson Tide were led by a season-high 27 points from All-American Mark Sears, his fourth 20-point effort in the last five games. Sears made 4-of-7 three-pointers for the Tide, which shot just 6-of-30 from deep as a squad. Alabama shot 42.9 percent overall and won the rebound battle 46-32, including 17 offensive boards.
Creighton is back on the court on Wednesday, Dec. 18, when it opens BIG EAST Conference play at 5:30 p.m. Central with a game at Georgetown.