It was just how he drew it up.

Probably not how head coach Tom Crean drew it up on the white board during Marquette's timeout with 19 seconds left — but how Steve Novak would have envisioned it in his old backyard, maybe.

When he was a kid, ticking down the imaginary clock before he dribbled into the corner of the driveway, he turned toward the basket and buried a fade-away jumper that was only witnessed by a dog tied to a tree.

"It's what you dream about as a basketball player, having the ball in your hands for the last shot," Novak said.

Surely an absurd falling-out-of-bounds final shot would not work in front of 18,874 fans at the Bradley Center Friday night, yet the senior dribbled toward the corner with the score tied at 65-65.

"He wasn't open initially off the first set of screens," Crean said, "And he just dribbled himself into daylight."

The skies were not exactly clear, however, for Notre Dame could not have defended him much better.

"He came off a bunch of (screens)," said Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. "I thought, for the most part, we had a pretty good awareness of him. … We switched it so we had a body on him, and that's the best we could do."

But 6-foot-1 Kyle McAlarney's outstretched arm was not long enough for Notre Dame.

"I just recognized that he was shorter than I was," Novak said. "… I was going to be able to shoot it over him. I didn't really have time to do anything else."

So he made it, and Marquette (14-5, 4-2 Big East) won 67-65.

Notre Dame (10-6, 1-4) had 1.1 seconds to respond, but Jerel McNeal knocked away Rob Kurz's desperation inbounds heave.

The Fighting Irish, who led for most of the game, had a better look at the basket with 24 seconds left, when the score was still 65-65. Colin Falls, who made 6-of-14 treys in the game and led his team with 21 points, curled off a screen and missed an open three-pointer.

Novak did not miss his opportunity and finished with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting. The senior has come of age in conference play, beginning with his 41-point performance against Connecticut on Jan. 3. After playing sidekick to Travis Diener the previous two seasons, Novak has at last adjusted to being the team's go-to guy.

"One of the first plays we ran was a flare over the top, and I was open and didn't shoot it because I was trying to run another part of the play," Novak said. "And I get over to the bench and everyone's saying, 'Shoot the ball, shoot the ball, shoot the ball.' When you got teammates and coaches telling you to shoot the ball when you're open, it gives you a great deal of confidence."

The Golden Eagles needed his confidence when they trailed 30-19 with five minutes left in the first half. Notre Dame had neutralized Dominic James and McNeal on the offensive end and silenced the sold-out crowd by preventing Marquette from getting into a running game.

Novak responded with a trio of three-pointers to help cut the halftime deficit to 33-30.

Marquette's freshmen backcourt improved down the stretch. McNeal scored all 12 of his points in the second half, and James' hesitation drive and layup tied the score at 65-65 with 46 seconds left in the game.

The little kid inside Novak did the rest.