OMAHA, Neb.- The Alabama State University men's Basketball team opened the 2010-11 season with a 71-57 loss at Creighton University.  The game was the first of three games ASU will play in the Global Sports Hy-Vee Challenge to open the season.

The game was tied three times and saw 11 lead changes in the tightly-fought contest.  ASU only trailed 33-30 at halftime, but came out in the second half and took a brief one-point lead before an 8-0 run with 13:22 left in the game started a surge for the Bluejays who never looked back. 

“We played with good energy”, ASU head coach Lewis Jackson said.  “Right now we just need to be more disciplined on offense and not take bad shots”

ASU was led by Kenderek Washington's nine points while Ivory White added eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Creighton's Antoine Young led all scorers with 21 points and seven rebounds.  Doug McDermott also had 16 to go along with seven boards.

Both teams shot a little over 40% from the field, however the biggest disparity was the foul shooting attempts.  The BlueJays were able to knock down 24 of their 28 attempts from the line.  Meanwhile, ASU attempted four free throws but was unable to connect on any of those attempts. 

“The game was sort of hit or miss and we did a good job of keeping their crowd out of it", Jackson said.  “We gave them some open looks that caused the game to get away from us at the end”

Alabama State continues their play in the Challenge as they face Big 12 opponent Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa on Sunday.  Tip-off is at 1 pm.