NEW YORK — George Washington looked right at home in Madison Square Garden, even though the arena was unfamiliar territory.
Tyler Cavanaugh had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and the Colonials advanced to the championship game of the NIT by throttling San Diego State in a 65-46 victory Tuesday night.
Patricio Garino added 13 points for the Colonials, who committed only six turnovers. They matched the school record for wins in a season and won in their first visit to the Garden since 2001.
George Washington, a No. 4 seed in the 32-team tournament, will play for the NIT crown Thursday night against Valparaiso, a 72-70 winner over BYU in the first semifinal.
“I told them, ’I want them to leave a legacy,’” coach Mike Lonergan said. “I can’t wait for Thursday night.”
Dakarai Allen had 13 points for San Diego State, which struggled to score at times throughout the season and had a dreadful shooting night at the wrong time.
The Aztecs, a No. 2 seed, fell behind by double digits late in the first half and then had trouble with George Washington’s 1-3-1 zone. They shot 28.8 percent from the field, including 3-for-22 from 3-point range.
“I think our inability to make shots affected our concentration at the other end, and all of a sudden you’ve got a snowball going downhill that turns into a gigantic glacier as it builds up steam,” San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. “George Washington had a lot to do with us playing poorly. They sliced and diced us at our defensive end and put us in positions that put us a little bit out of character.”
Although the Colonials hadn’t been to Madison Square Garden in 15 years, they did play four games in New York City this season — all at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Lonergan thought that helped, along with all of the GW fans in the crowd of 8,298.
“I think we are more confident than ever right now,” Garino said.
One reason is Cavanaugh, who entered averaging 21.7 points and 9.3 rebounds in the first three games of the tournament.
Joe McDonald, playing through a sprained ankle, had nine points and six assists for the Colonials, who beat then-No. 6 Virginia back in November and showed no jitters whatsoever in their first trip to the NIT semifinals.
“The thing that kept us from making the NCAA tournament was really our defense. I could never get it up to par,” Lonergan said. “But, they were really motivated going to the NIT and we’ve been good offensively all year and they really started playing team defense.”
Winston Shepard had seven points on 3-for-13 shooting in his final game for San Diego State. Sophomore guard Trey Kell, the team’s leading scorer, also finished with seven points.
“We’ve been playing really good basketball lately and shots have been falling, and one of the biggest games of the year, we couldn’t buy a bucket. Just real bad timing,” senior big man Skylar Spencer said.
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