Portland, OR - There is something about playing in the Stott Center that the Portland State Vikings really love. They proved it again on Saturday in their Big Sky Conference opener by shooting a school-record percentage in a 98-75 victory over the Eastern Washington Eagles.

In their second home game of the season, the Vikings hit 33 of 48 shots from the field for a .688 mark. That broke the school record of .674 (31-46) set by the Vikings just two weeks ago in their first home game of the year (a 92-83 win over Cal Poly).

With the win, Portland State opens its Big Sky season at 1-0 and improves its home record to 2-0. The Vikings have also won nine straight home games, seven straight Big Sky Conference home games, and are 27-2 at home since the start of the 2007-08 season.

PSU hit 16 of 21 shots in the first half (.762) in building a 44-35 halftime lead. Julius Thomas hit 6-7 from the field and had 14 points to lead the Vikings at halftime.

The Eagles were within seven at 64-57 with 9:56 to play in the game when the Vikings blew it open. A 15-4 run pushed the lead to 79-61 at the 6:49 mark and PSU coasted home from there.

Portland State also made 8-14 from three-point range (.571) and 24-30 at the line (.800) for an all-around solid shooting night.

Eastern Washington was respectable at 27-59 (.458) from the field but couldn't keep up with the high-powered Vikings. Aiding the offense was a brilliant defensive job by junior forward Paul Guede on the Eagles' All-Conference guard Benny Valentine. Guede held Valentine to just 1-8 from the field and two points.

Once again, Dominic Waters led the Vikings in scoring. He had another brilliant shooting night, hitting 8-11 from the field and 7-7 at the line for 23 points. Waters also had eight assists and two steals. His backcourt mate Melvin Jones hit 5-7 from three-point range and finished with 19 points.

Jamie Jones added 17 points on 4-5 from the field and 9-11 at the line. Thomas made 7-9 shots and scored 16.

Glen Dean and Jeffrey Forbes each scored 17 to lead the Eagles.

Portland State improved to 3-4 overall on the season and has won three of its last four games. Eastern Washington dropped to 3-5 overall, 0-1 in conference play.

GAME NOTES: Portland State has now won four straight games in the series with Eastern Washington... Waters is 30-46 from the field over the last four games (.652) and 25-26 at the line (.962). He is averaging 23.5 points and 7.0 assists over that span... as a team, PSU has shot 119-201 over the last four games (.592) and twice set school records for shooting. PSU is 40-76 (.526) from three-point range and 62-78  (.795) at the line in those games... Portland State hosts Linfield on Wednesday at the Stott Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The radio broadcast can be heard on 800 AM KPDQ with the pregame show starting at 6:30... The Vikings follow that with four straight road games through the Christmas holiday.