San Diego State, George Washington advance to NIT semifinals

Trey Kell tied a career high with four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points to help No. 2 seed San Diego State beat Georgia Tech 72-56 Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the NIT at San Diego.

San Diego State (28-9) will face George Washington at Madison Square Garden in Tuesday’s semifinals.

Adam Smith hit a jumper that pulled fourth-seeded Georgia Tech (21-15) within four with 11:14 to play, but the Yellow Jackets went the next six-plus minutes without a field goal. The Aztecs used an 8-1 spurt, which was capped by a 3-pointer by Kell, during that span to push their lead to 56-45.

Georgia Tech trailed by at least nine the rest of the way.

Marcus Georges-Hunt led the Yellow Jackets with 18 points.

George Washington 82, Florida 77: Tyler Cavanaugh scored 23, including a key 3-pointer in the final minute, and Kevin Larsen added 19 points with a season-high 13 rebounds to help the Colonials (26-10) beat the Gators (21-14) at Gainesville, Florida.

Patricio Garino added 13 points and rebounds for fourth-seeded George Washington. Cavanaugh made 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

A jumper by Florida’s Chris Chiozza tied it at 73 with 2:25 left. Cavanaugh made 1 of 2 free throws about a minute later to put the Colonials up one and, after Dorian Finney-Smith missed a 3 on the other end, Cavanaugh knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 54 seconds left to make it 77-73.

Kasey Hill made 1 of 2 foul shots to pull the No. 2 seed Gators within four, but Cavanaugh hit 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 16 seconds.