George Washington takes NIT title with win over Valpo
NEW YORK - George Washington won its first National Invitation Tournament championship, getting 18 points from Kevin Larsen and pulling away in the second half to beat Valparaiso 76-60 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
Patricio Garino had 14 points, Joe McDonald added 13 and the fourth-seeded Colonials (28-10) set a school record for wins in a season with a dominant performance over the final 20 minutes. They won their fourth straight game against a higher-seeded team and sent three senior starters out with a tournament trophy, softening the sting of being rebuffed by the NCAA selection committee.
Tyler Cavanaugh, selected the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, scored 12 points.
George Washington, which starts players from Argentina, Denmark and Japan, held Valparaiso star Alec Peters to two points in the second half. Peters finished with 15 for the top-seeded Crusaders (30-7), who went 8 for 28 from 3-point range.
It was the first title in a national postseason tournament for the Colonials, who led by one at halftime.
GW enjoyed much of the fan support among the crowd of 7,016. The school is located four blocks from the White House in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and New York City is about a 225-mile trip up I-95. Some trains take less than three hours.
Both senior point guards played through injuries, hoping to grit it out and win a championship in their final college game.
McDonald was able to start after tweaking his ankle during Tuesday night's semifinal rout of San Diego State.
Crusaders sparkplug Keith Carter sprained his right foot with about 6 minutes to go in the first half, hitting the floor after jostling with Cavanaugh underneath. Carter initially stayed in the game, keying an 8-0 run with five points and an assist on Peters' fast-break 3 that tied it at 24.
But at the 5:21 mark, Carter came out and missed the rest of the first half. He returned to start the second half.
Neither team had even reached the NIT semifinals before, and this was the first meeting between the schools.
Valparaiso advanced to the championship game by barely holding off BYU 72-70, thanks to a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 20 seconds left from reserve forward David Skara.
George Washington rolled to a 65-46 victory over SDSU in its first game at the Garden since 2001.
Cavanaugh scored eight points in the first half Thursday, and the Colonials went to the break with a 32-31 lead.