NEW YORK — Brandon Parrish sat at the podium, wearing a commemorative t-shirt and a net draped around his neck. To his right was former Pitt coach and TCU mentor Jamie Dixon. On his left was Kenrich Williams.

Parrish made sure to savor the moment.

“We have something that’s forever,” he said. “Nobody can ever take this away from us.”

Williams had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and TCU routed Georgia Tech 88-56 in the NIT championship on Thursday night. The junior guard, who missed last season because of a knee injury, went 8 for 14 from the field and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

“We knew he was a good player,” Dixon said. “We’ve found better ways to use him in even better situations where we’re even more comfortable and to be honest, he was out of about a year and a half. He’s just now getting his legs under him and getting game-like conditions. You’re seeing the numbers that he’s putting up. His play down the stretch has been unbelievable.”

TCU opened with a 20-3 run on its way to the program’s first NIT title. Vlad Brodziansky scored 18 points for the Horned Frogs (24-15), and Alex Robinson had 10 points and 11 assists.

Tadric Jackson led Georgia Tech (21-16) with 19 points. Josh Okogie had 12 points and six rebounds.

“We played to the last buzzer,” Georgia Tech senior Quinton Stephens said. “We stuck together. We stayed with the way we need to play.

“It was bigger than us. We knew bigger things were coming and this is only the beginning.”

It was the first meeting between the programs since Dec. 21, 1967, and No. 3 overall. And it mostly belonged to TCU, which never trailed.

The Horned Frogs led 38-27 at halftime, and it was more of the same in the second half. Williams and Brodziansky threw down thunderous dunks, and Williams knocked down a 3 to help push the advantage to 54-39.

“They punched us first,” Stephens said. “We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole.”

TCU shot 51 percent (35 for 68) from the field and held Georgia Tech to 35.7 percent (20 for 56) shooting. The Yellow Jackets also committed 17 turnovers.