FAYETTE, Iowa – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-8, 0-3 NSIC) was unable to dig themselves out of an early hole as they fell to #19 Upper Iowa (7-1, 2-1 NSIC) 86-73 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Golden Bears fell to 15-21 in the all-time series as the Peacocks picked up just their eighth win in 17 meetings in Fayette.
 
Elijah Ormiston put together his best game of his young career as he paced all players with a career-best 28 points while finishing a rebound shy of a double-double with nine. He connected on 13-19 from the floor as his 13 made field goals tied for third-most in program history.
 
Jacob Everson finished in double figures for the third straight game as he scored 15 points on 4-8 shooting and 3-5 from deep. During his three-game hot streak, Everson has averaged 14.7 points on 65.0% (13-20) and 71.4% (10-14) from three-point range.
 
Roy Grigsby added nine points on 3-6 from the floor and 2-2 from beyond the arc while Marcus Skeete tallied five points, six assists and five rebounds.
 
The Peacocks connected on an efficient 52.0% (39-75) from the field compared to a 43.9% (29-66) mark for the Golden Bears while they also utilized a 52-40 edge in points in the paint as well as a 24-16 edge in points off turnovers in the win.
 
The duo of Jareese Williams and Joe Smoldt combined for 37 points for UIU as Williams finished with 19 points and five rebounds while Smoldt had 18 points and four assists.
 
After a Reid Patterson made jumper on the opening possession gave the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead, Upper Iowa took control with 22 of the next 26 points to build a 16 point advantage at the 11:21 mark in the first half. The Golden Bears quickly recovered, however, as they strung together an extended 23-12 burst to cut it to five at 34-29 with 3:47 left in the half. The lead was back in double figures at the half as the Peacocks took a 47-35 advantage into the locker room.
 
The lead reached 20 early in the second half at 58-38 before another run from the Golden Bears trimmed it back to single digits. An 8-0 run spearheaded by Skeete and Everson trimmed it to nine at 60-51 before another 7-0 run a few minutes later had it down to eight at 70-62 with 7:37 to play, but that would be all the closer they would get. 11 straight points for UIU put it out of reach as the Peacocks cruised to an 86-73 win.
 
Concordia will look to claim their first conference win next weekend as they travel to Wayne State on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Augustana on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.