With a strong performance by guard Trey Kell, No. 2 seed San Diego State beat Georgia Tech 72-56 Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the NIT.
Kell finished with 18 points and had four 3-pointers, tying his career high.
San Diego State (28-9) will now face George Washington, an 82-77 winner over Florida, 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. Charles Mitchell added 12 points, on 5-of-8 shooting, and 12 rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.
The Aztecs led by 10 points twice in the first half, but Georgia Tech rallied behind Georges-Hunt's 11 points to tie it at 31 going into the break.
San Diego State scored but three points in the final five minutes before halftime. It committed three turnovers and missed all four of its field-goal attempts over that span.
Georgia Tech converted nine of its last 10 shots from the field, and shot 56.5 percent, in the first half.
San Diego State committed just six turnovers and converted 12 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points.
Georgia Tech made just 2 of 10 from 3-point range.
