GRAND RAPIDS – Albion College fell behind by 10 four minutes into the game and it never recovered in an 81-50 loss to Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rival Calvin College.

The loss, Albion's second in a row, drops the Britons (10-8 overall, 4-3 MIAA) two games behind league-leading Hope College.

Albion came away empty on its first three possessions with a missed layup and a pair of turnovers as Calvin, powered by two baskets by Tom Snikkers, sprinted out to a 7-0 lead. Snikkers added another basket and Trent Salo drained a "three" as the Knights extended the margin to 12-2.

"They were really, really good today and I'm not sure too many teams in the country could have beat them," Albion coach Jody May said. "I think when you allow a good team to play comfortable at the beginning of the game, everything becomes easy for that team throughout the whole game. We allowed them to get comfortable early on and there was nothing we could do once they got going."

Mike Smith and Kolin Kazen scored on consecutive possessions as Albion pulled with six, 12-6, but that was as close as the Britons would get.

Calvin ripped off the next 15 points to put the contest out of reach. Calvin went on to hold a 42-17 lead at halftime.

Shooting was the key statistic in the game as Albion shot a season-worst 30.2 percent (19-of-63) from the field while Calvin had the best performance by an opponent this season by knocking down 56 percent (26-of-46) of its attempts.

Alex Harville finished with 11 points and Jake Siebert 10 for the Britons.

Snikkers and Brad Schuster led the Knights with 15 points apiece.

Albion's next game is a Saturday date with Olivet College. The action begins with the junior varsity game at 12:45 p.m., followed by the varsity contest at 3 p.m.