Novak's Last Second Basket Downs Notre Dame, 67-65

Jan. 20, 2006

MILWAUKEE - A game-high 28 points from senior Steve Novak including the game-winning basket with 1.1 seconds left in the game, and freshmen Jerel McNeal and Dominic James each scoring in double figures led the Marquette men's basketball team to a 67-65 victory over Notre Dame in front of a school-record crowd of 18,874 fans at the Bradley Center. The Golden Eagles win their second straight and improve to 14-5, 4-2 BIG EAST, while the Irish lose their fourth conference game in five tries, falling to 10-6, 1-4 in BIG EAST.

"As soon as I got the ball they knew I was shooting," said Novak. "I just recognized that I was going to be able to shoot it over him. We weren't in a back up plan, we knew we were in the best situation with the last possession. It's what you dream about as a basketball player to have your hands on the ball to make the last shot of the game. This was definitely a big win for us."

Novak led all scorers with 28 points, shooting 6-of-10 from beyond the arc, and he grabbed six rebounds. McNeal added 12 points, five assists and five steals, and James contributed six assists and five rebounds. Collectively the Golden Eagles shot 51.9 percent (27-of-52) while Notre Dame made 22 of its attempts for the game (40 percent). Marquette won the battle of the boards, 33-27, after being down in the first half, 17-15. The Golden Eagles grabbed five offensive boards in the second while holding the Fighting Irish to just one offensive rebound in the second half.

"With out a doubt this will go down as one of the greatest games in the history of this rivalry," said head coach Tom Crean. "I thought we did excellent job of picking up the defensive intensity in the second half. There were lots of big shots and big plays from both teams. I was pumped with how excited the crowd was a how intense the game and I was proud of the way our guys focused tonight. The effort was great on both ends. There is no way we could have won this game with out the attendance in the Bradley Center tonight. "

Colin Falls led Notre Dame with 21 points and Chris Quinn added 18 points. Torin Francis, the Irish's leading rebounder, grabbed a game high 10 boards and contributed eight points.

The Golden Eagles shot well in the first half, hitting 47.8 percent on 11-of-23 shooting, while Notre Dame made 12 of its 31 shots (38.7 percent) from the floor. Novak led all scorers in the first with 16 points, converting six of his eight shots, including four three-pointers. The Fighting Irish won the battle on the glass, out rebounding the Golden Eagles, 17-15, in the first stanza which included Notre Dame grabbing eight offensive boards, compared to three from Marquette.

Notre Dame jumped out to an early 9-2 lead, but Marquette quickly caught the Fighting Irish scoring on three straight possessions. After that the two teams traded buckets until Falls hit a basket from beyond the arc which sparked an 10-0 run giving the Fighting Irish a 10-point lead with just over five minutes remaining in the half.

Marquette responded with a trey from Novak and an 11-3 run helped by three three-pointers from Novak and a lay-up from sophomore Mike Kinsella to end the half down by three points, 33-30.

The Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game, 43-42, after sophomore Dan Fitzgerald hit a jumper and Marquette capitalized on its next two possessions to lead by three points, 46-43. After another trey from Novak and baskets from McNeal and Fitzgerald, Marquette held a six-point advantage, 54-48 with 9:29 remaining in the game.

Three consecutive free throws by Colin Falls, after being fouled from behind the arc, and five additional points from Quinn left the Fighting Irish ahead by three points, 59-56, with 7:08.

The Golden Eagles answered with a trey from Novak and a fast break bucket from McNeal taking a one point lead, 60-59, but Falls answered with a three pointer to give Notre Dame the two point lead with 5:59 left in the game.

Both the Golden Eagles and the Irish traded baskets late in the game with neither team surrendering more than a two-point lead. Quinn made another lay-up and hit another free throw from to make it 63-65 with 2:46 left.

McNeal missed two free throws but James tied it up with a lay-up with 46 seconds left. Notre Dame missed and failed their last shot of the game and Novak nailed a jumper with one second left to win the game, 67-65.

The Golden Eagles return to action Wednesday, January 25 when they host DePaul at the Bradley Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.