Not even the largest student turnout of the season could help the Albion men's basketball team Saturday afternoon. Albion had its worst shooting performance of the season and fell to MIAA rival Hope College 66-55. The loss dropped the Britons into second place in the conference and one game behind Hope.

The Britons jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead in the first four minutes of the game. They lost that lead just minutes later and the game was back and forth for much of the first half. A three pointer by junior guard Chris Hutton sparked a 6-1 run over the final 1:18 of the first half.

Hutton finished the game with 16 points and the Britons took a 33-32 lead into the locker room.

The Britons couldn't maintain the momentum they generated at the end of the half and lost the lead early in the second half. Hope took the lead at the 16:02 mark and never looked back. The Flying Dutchmen stretched the lead to as many as 18 points.

Albion cut the lead down to ten with 4:24 remaining, but could not overcome their poor shooting. The Britons shot just 30 percent from the floor, which was their worst performance of the season. Albion also allowed Hope to shoot 50 percent from the floor, which was also their worst percentage allowed this season.

Senior guard J.C. Cruse finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Kolin Kazen finished with 11 points and six rebounds.