Last-second heroics in basketball usually come down to a player hitting a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

For Northwestern, Saturday’s heroics came in the form of blocking the potential winning shot as time ran down, preserving a 58-57 Colonial League victory for the Tigers over visiting Notre Dame.

Just as Crusaders coach Pat Boyle expected, Northwestern had Brendan Boyle covered from head-to-toe.

Coach Boyle drew up an appropriate Plan B in a timeout with just 5.5 seconds to play that called for Joe Galle to get the ball outside. Galle put up a shot as time ran down, but junior Dylan Witkowski was not going to let him be a hero as he quickly reached up and swatted the ball back to the center of the court where it would bounce harmlessly until time ran out.

“We had just talked during the timeout that we didn’t want to let them get a shot off, or at least not an easy shot, and we executed really well,” said Witkowski, who hit three three-pointers in the game. “I just reached out as soon as I saw him going up for the shot and got a hand on it.”

“Dylan made a great play there,” said Northwestern head coach Jerry Lloyd, who was happy with the defensive play of his team that held Notre Dame to a season-low 57 points. “He got out with his left hand up, which is important, and used his length.”

The Crusaders came into the game averaging just under 77 points per game.

Witkowski’s heroics were set up by Cade Christopher, a sophomore, who hit a pair of free throws with 50.2 seconds left in the game, putting the Tigers up 58-57, for the 11th and final lead change of the game. Notre Dame called a timeout with 30 seconds left and was then forced to take another at the 5.5-second mark to reset their offense.

Nick Henry finished with a team-high 13 points, while Christopher finished with 12 - going 4-for-4 from the foul line. While the points were nice, Lloyd noted the defensive contributions that Christopher makes for Northwestern.

“I put him right there as one of the best defensive players in the league,” said Lloyd. “The kid has a motor that just doesn’t stop, and he is super athletic. He is so active with his hands and does all of the little things that aren’t in the box score. He’s always guarding the other team’s best player when we get into a junk defense.”

Notre Dame senior Logan Rickert led all scorers with 19 points and Boyle finished with 17, but was held to just two points in the final quarter of the game. Rickert and Boyle each hit two three-pointers in the first quarter, but Northwestern (10-4; 7-2) held a 15-12 lead going into the second quarter.

Rickert hit two more three-pointers in the second quarter before the Crusaders (9-2; 4-1) jumped on an opening inside and used Na’Kai Carew to drive the lane for six second-quarter points and a 32-28 advantage at the half.

The Tigers came out shooting in the second half, outscoring Notre Dame 21-11, and at one point opened their biggest lead of the game when Andres Garrido scored from inside to put the Tigers up 49-40 with 1:37 left in the third quarter. Notre Dame cut into the lead in the fourth and regained the edge with 4:21 to play when Boyle hit an outside jumper to make it 54-53.

ANY SHOT YOU CAN MAKE ... The two teams were looking to gain an advantage over each other from three-point range early in the game. While the Crusaders had Boyle and Rickert scoring all their first quarter points from beyond the arc, Cayden Fitch returned fire with two first-quarter threes and Witkowski hit for another three. In the first half alone, the teams combined for 12 three-pointers.

BOUNCING BACK ... While Lloyd didn’t feel any added pressure on his team after a blowout loss to Bangor on Thursday, he wanted to see how his team would bounce back. “I was interested to see how we would respond after taking a good beating the other night,” Lloyd said. “I was happy the way our kids came back, responded today and competed for 32 minutes.”

NOTRE DAME

Rickert 6-2-4-19, Boyle 6-2-5-17, Becker 0-0-0-0, Carew 4-0-0-8, Howlett 3-1-2-8, Carson 0-0-0-0, Rodgers 1-0-0-3, Altmire 0-0-0-0, Marcks 1-0-0-2, Galle 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-5-11-57.

NORTHWESTERN

Fitch 3-0-0-8, Christopher 4-4-4-12, Holmes 1-0-1-2, Henry 5-1-2-13, Witkowski 3-0-0-9, Stitzel 2-0-0-4, Garrido 4-2-2-10. TOTALS: 22-7-9-58.

Notre Dame 12 20 11 14 - 57

Northwestern 15 13 21 9 - 58

Three-pointers: ND - Rickert 5, Boyle 3, Howlett 1, Rodgers 1; NW - Witkowski 3, Fitch 2, Henry 2.