Milwaukee ? Steve Novak already had showed the Big East his scoring ability. Now he’s teaching his young teammates how to win close games.

Novak scored 19 and set Marquette’s season record for three-pointers, leading the Golden Eagles to a 57-51 victory over No. 17 Georgetown on Thursday night.

“We said if we’re going to win like we want to, we’re going to have to close out games like we did,” Novak said. “We were reminding each other about that.”

Dominic James scored 16 points, and Jerel McNeal added 10 for Marquette (17-8 overall, 7-5 Big East), while the 6-foot-11 Novak put on another shooting show at home – going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc.

“He makes more contested shots than anyone I’ve seen in a long time,” Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. “It’s a gift that he’s worked on, clearly.”

The Golden Eagles beat a ranked conference opponent for the second time after a 94-79 victory over then-No. 2 Connecticut in their inaugural Big East game Jan. 3. Marquette led No. 4 Villanova for most of the game earlier this month before faltering down the stretch and had a similar collapse in a loss at No. 11 West Virginia.

“Our players are building mental toughness. It’s really hard with a young team,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said. “It’s very hard to close teams out in a close game. The more that you get experience at it and the more you learn from the experiences when you don’t do it is where it can really help you.”

Roy Hibbert, who had 17 points, made a layup with 6:03 to go to cap a 7-0 run that brought Georgetown (17-6, 8-4) within 44-42. Ashanti Cook’s three-pointer gave the Hoyas their first lead in the second half, 49-48.

“They went up by one point, but we still felt very confident we were going to win the ball game,” James said.

James, a freshman, found Joe Chapman for a three-pointer to give Marquette a 51-49 lead with 2:30 remaining and Marquette shut down the Hoyas the rest of the way.

“Joe’s been stepping up all year, taking big shots and making big shots,” said Novak, like Chapman a senior. “There is no question everybody on the team believes in him.”

No. 13 Boston College 65, Miami 54

Boston – Jared Dudley scored 16, and Boston College relied on uncharacteristic three-point shooting to beat Miami for its 10th victory in 11 games.

The Eagles (21-5, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) usually rely on the inside scoring of Craig Smith and Dudley, but they broke the game open by hitting five three-pointers.

No. 20 Washington 75, Oregon 72

Eugene, Ore. – Brandon Roy scored 21, and Washington beat Oregon for a fifth straight time. Jamaal Williams added 17 points, and Jon Brockman had 12 for the Huskies (19-5, 8-5 Pac-10). Maarty Leunen had a chance to tie for Oregon, but his three-point attempt went off the front of the rim at the buzzer.