ALBION, Mich. -- An early deficit cost the Albion College men's basketball team, falling to Hope College 84-79 on Monday evening. The Flying Dutch broke out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back.

Senior Caden Ebeling finished a rebound shy of a double-double, scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Two days after a career performance, Cortez Garland had another strong showing, registering 23 points -- including a 9 of 10 mark from the foul line.

Juwan Perry was the only other Briton in double figures, adding 11 points.

The visitors scored the first eight points of the contest. Despite Albion using a 7-0 run to trim the deficit, Hope responded, never surrendering the lead. The Flying Dutch controlled the tempo for the first half, taking a commanding 45-33 lead into the locker room.

Hope's lead grew to as many as 16 points before Albion used a timeout and found a spark. Layups from Devin Holmes and MJ Barnes started the rally. A triple from the wing off the hand of Garland brought the Britons to within 11. On the ensuing Hope possession, Holmes forced a turnover to give Albion the ball back, which culminated with another Garland three. Albion trailed 58-52 with 12:44 in the contest.

Another run by the Flying Dutch inflated the Hope lead back to nine points before another small Albion run. An 8-0 run, in which Ebeling tallied four points, trimmed the Hope lead to 70-69 with 3:40 on the clock.

Unable to tie or take the lead, Albion couldn't find the one last momentum push, as Hope scored the next eight points to build an advantage the hosts were unable to catch.

Albion drops its first contest of 2021, falling to 2-1. Hope improves to 2-1.

On a hot shooting night, Hope shot an efficient 57 percent from the floor and 57 percent from three. Albion converted just 29 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.

Albion committed 12 turnovers in the contest -- nine of which came in the second half.

The Britons will travel to Adrian on Wednesday night for an 8 p.m. game.