PORTLAND, Ore. - Senior guard Pooh Jeter finished with 20 points to lead five Portland players in double-figures as the Pilots raced to a 92-74 victory against the UC Riverside Highlanders Sunday night at the Chiles Center. A crowd of 1,612 witnessed the Pilots (1-2) claim their fourth home-opening victory in the last five years under head coach Michael Holton, while the Highlanders (0-2) made it interesting with a run-and-gun style reminiscent of the Paul Westhead’s successful Loyola Marymount teams from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Jeter’s 20-point performance moved him past Steve Anstett (1962-64) into 10th place on the Portland career scoring list with 1,220 points. He is 43 points shy of passing Floyd Banks (1973-75) for ninth all-time.

Portland junior Ben Sullivan, sidelined in the Pilots’ previous game with a sprained left ankle, came off the bench to record a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Sullivan also added five assists in just 23 minutes of action. Senior swingman Donald Wilson had 15 points and seven assists, while Marcus Lewis and Kevin Field added 15 and 14 points, respectively.

UC Riverside guard Rickey Porter tallied a game-high 21 points on 8 of 15 shooting and Steve Williams added 16.

"I was pleased with our energy and effort tonight," Portland head coach Michael Holton said. "We set the tone early and were able to respond to their pressure defense with poise and good ball movement."

After a dominant first half paced by Sullivan’s eight points, nine boards and five assists, the Highlanders used an 8-0 run after intermission to claw back and cut the deficit to five points at 43-38 with 17:26 remaining. Porter’s three-pointer cut the margin to 46-44 with less than 14 minutes remaining, but Wilson drained a trey from the left corner and then brought the fans to their feet with a steal and two-handed dunk on consecutive possessions to give the Pilots some breathing room.

Larry Cunningham drilled a three-pointer a few minutes later, but Wilson followed with two more lay-ins to push to lead back to double-digits.

The pesky Highlanders managed to keep the game within reach until an 8-0 Pilot run took the lead to 14 at 74-60 with 4:28 remaining. Jeter made six consecutive free-throws during the spurt and the Pilots connected on 16 of their final 17 attempts from the charity stripe to clinch the victory.

The Pilots controlled the interior against the guard-oriented Highlanders, gaining a 40-34 edge in rebounding and 48-28 advantage in points in the paint. Portland also limited UCR to 11 fast break points. In an exhibition game against the University of Redlands earlier this year, the Highlanders scored 162 points in their newly adopted style under first-year head coach David Spencer.

"Our defensive energy was consistent throughout," Holton said. "They are a dangerous team with the way they can make runs, but our defense held its ground. It’s nice to get the first win, but I still see a lot of things we can improve on going forward."

Portland shot 53 percent from the floor, 50 percent from three-point range and 83 percent from the free throw line. UCR was limited to 39 percent shooting for the game.

The Pilots will conclude their brief homestand with a game against the Seattle Redhawks at the Chiles Center on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. Portland will then travel to Winthrop and Charlotte for a pair of road games over Thanksgiving weekend.