TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Creighton men’s basketball team ousted No. 7 Alabama but couldn’t overcome the Crimson Tide, losing its non-conference final 83-75 Saturday night at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Alabama is now 8-2 this season, while Creighton enters BIG EAST play on Wednesday at 7-4.

A Ryan Kalkbrenner Dunk opened the scoring and a Steven Ashworth Three balls gave CU its only lead of the game a short time later as Alabama quickly jumped out to a 24-10 lead and forced a Bluejay timeout. CU trailed by as many as 17 (27-10) and still trailed 33-18 before stringing together several stops and cutting the deficit to 33-25 after a three-point playby Jamiya Neal and scores through inside Frederick King And Jasen Green. The reserve team built a 13-4 lead at the end of the first half, while CU cut the deficit to 37-31.

Kalkbrenner had 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks at halftime, while Ashworth had nine points over all 20 minutes of play. Alabama held an eight-point lead over Labaron Philon in the first half as the Crimson Tide limited their shooting to 38.5 percent after missing 13 of their final 14 attempts before halftime.

Alabama needed just 46 seconds to score the first five points of the second half and push the lead back into double digits at 42-31. CU used an 8-2 lead to cut the deficit to six at 53-47 with 11:24 to play.

A three-ball from Ashworth brought the Jays to within seven at 70-63 with 3:38 to play, CU cut the deficit to six on three-balls from Neal (72-66) and Jackson McAndrew (77-71) twice in the last three minutes. CU had a chance to get within three points after a defensive stop with about a minute left, but then missed a clear look from downtown and was forced to foul.

After two charity throws from the Tide, McAndrew got CU within four (79-75) with a four-point game with 24.4 remaining, but that would be as close as it gets.

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, who shot just 6 of 30 from long range as a team. Alabama shot 42.9 percent overall and won the rebounding battle 46-32, including 17 offensive boards.

Creighton is back on the court on Wednesday, December 18th when BIG EAST Conference play opens with a game at Georgetown at 5:30 p.m. Central.

NOTES: Alabama and Creighton are two of five teams in the country that have played in three of the last four Sweet 16s… Steven Ashworth made a three-pointer to make it 29^Th straight game, the fourth-longest streak in program history… Ryan Kalkbrenner had a blocked shot in his 24th^Th consecutive game, the nation’s longest active streak…Creighton has made a three-pointer in 1,031 straight games…Tonight was Alabama’s first win over Creighton in four tries…Creighton fell to 1-3 against top-25 teams this season… CU fell to 7-8 under Greg McDermott in true road games, with five of those games coming against top-25 teams…Alabama’s streak of 84 straight games with a blocked shot was broken.