GAME NOTES: San Jose State continues a three-game homestand to tip off the 2014-15 campaign, as the Spartans welcome the Portland Pilots to The Event Center on Sunday afternoon.

San Jose State, which will host Pepperdine on Wednesday before hitting the road for the first time versus Cal State Fullerton next weekend, began the season on Friday night with a 67-44 victory over Bethesda.

As for the Pilots, they lifted off with a convincing 87-59 decision against visiting Concordia-Oregon two nights ago at the Chiles Center. Following Sunday's stop in the Golden State, Portland heads home to host SIU Edwardsville and Murray State in the coming weeks.

With respect to the all-time series, the Spartans cling to a 10-9 advantage over Portland, claiming victory in five of the eight games that have been played in San Jose. However, the Pilots won last year's matchup by a score of 86-69.

Of the 13 players that saw playing time for the Pilots in the opener, all but one managed to score, with Kevin Bailey leading the way with his 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Thomas van der Mars came up a rebound shy of a double-double as he tallied 10 points in 20 minutes, while fellow big man Volodymyr Gerun also came close to a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds in a mere 14 minutes.

The Pilots shot an impressive 50.8 percent from the field in the outing, but knocked down just 4-of-16 behind the 3-point line and turned the ball over 16 times. In addition to limiting the visitors to only 30.5 percent from the floor and forcing 17 miscues, Portland held a massive 54-28 advantage on the glass.

A Jaleel Williams 3-pointer 20 seconds into the game got the ball rolling for the Spartans versus Bethesda, as the hosts moved out to a 12-2 advantage only a few minutes in, eventually claiming the lopsided victory at The Event Center. While the visitors failed to put a single player in double figures, Rashad Muhammad accounted for a game-high 17 points as the SJSU guard knocked down 4-of-6 behind the 3-point line and a perfect 5-of-5 at the free-throw line. Williams contributed another 10 points as he played just 12 minutes before giving way to the reserves.

San Jose State hit the glass hard in order to come away with 52 rebounds, all but nine of those coming at the defensive end of the floor. In addition to having 18 more rebounds than the opposition, the Spartans also held them to just 27.0 percent shooting from the floor and 6-of-15 beyond the arc, all in an effort to offset 18 SJSU turnovers.

Both teams had an easy time of it in their respective openers, but for the Pilots the trip to California will take some effort and that could be the difference once the squads actually hit the floor.