Former Marquette basketball stars find competitive fire still hot at Summerfest charity event

Travis Diener loves to win. It's the competitive fire that has fueled the Fond du Lac native throughout his basketball career.

That's why when Marquette lost to Wisconsin in the 2nd Alumni Charity Challenge at Summerfest on Friday afternoon, Diener had one word to say as he walked off the court.

"Weak."

The 41-year-old's comment seemed understandable. Both teams finished with the same score, 60, in the championship round. But because the tiebreaker was based on which team had the highest dollar amount donated on their behalf, which was equivalent to four points, the Badgers were named champions for the second straight year.

Even though the former Marquette and NBA guard, who played alongside Chloe Marotta and Steve Novak, didn't go home with the trophy, he acknowledged the day was an overall win with more than $12,000 raised.

"Any time there's a chance to give back to four such great charities, people come and cheer us on and all we have to do is come out, shoot and try to make some shots, is great," he said.

Each team played for a different cause: Marquette for the Nicole Ellis Fund, Wisconsin for Garding Against Cancer, UW-Milwaukee for the Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin and UW-Green Bay for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Green Bay.

Wisconsin was represented by Ben Brust, Trevon Hughes and Brevin Pritzl. Green Bay had Carrington Love, Rahmon Fletcher and Bryquis Perine. Ronnie Jones, Ed McCants and Torre Johnson suited up for Milwaukee.

Marquette team raises money in honor of a legend

Each contestant had two minutes to make their way around a 21-shot course — a glorified version of the children's game "Shooting Around the World" — with the last shot from half-court. The players' shots were combined for each team, with the two winning teams moving on to the finals.

Wisconsin beat Green Bay in the first round, 65-54, with Brust capping it off by making the half-court shot.

Marquette defeated Milwaukee, 60-52, in the other first-round matchup, setting up an I-94 rivalry championship. Diener showed he still can pop it from deep.

Prior to taking the court against Wisconsin, Marquette got an impromptu pep talk from Marquette legend Bo Ellis. Ellis along with his wife, Candy, started the Nicole Ellis Foundation in 2007 after the death of their daughter, Nicole, from liver disease.

"It was a no-brainer," Diener said on why his team chose to play for Ellis' foundation. "Bo means a lot to Marquette and he means a lot to me. He was on staff when I was a player. All of us try to represent ourselves the right way but more importantly, try to represent something that's bigger than us. "

Whatever Ellis said resonated with the Golden Eagles, as Marotta opened up the final round hitting her first eight shots. Then Diener and Novak went neck and neck with Brust and Pritzl, until the eventual tie, and the naming of Wisconsin as the winner.

"We will be back next year to hopefully beat them then," Novak said.

Shooting challenge is based on program Novak started

The Summerfest shooting challenge mimicked a program Novak created called 2s, FREEs & 3s, which takes place at different gyms throughout Wisconsin.

The 11-year NBA veteran, and now Bally Sports Wisconsin Bucks in-studio analyst, started it last year following a conversation with his friend Brian Lammi.

"One day it hit us and we were like, 'There is no basketball competition that is a punt, pass and kick basketball version,'" Novak said. "We put our minds together and figured out if there was a way to grow it at the grassroots level in a place that we're from, which is Wisconsin. Basketball is a special sport and to me, shooting is a unique special skill that so many people love to do. We hope it can catch some steam."

The Brown Deer native based it on his own career and the lessons he learned from his coaches.

"I think back to the years when I was at Marquette under Tom Crean and the training, the repetitions and to me the therapy that shooting is," Novak said.

He said the bigger message behind 2s, FREEs & 3s is that shooting is an "incredible equalizer" when it comes to competition.

"You can bring all sexes and all different ages out here," Novak said. "You don't need to do a girl's trophy and a boy's trophy. You can do just a shooter's trophy. I love that about shooting even more so than basketball. And it's simple enough that you can show up and pretty much do it on the spot."

Novak, who grew up in Brown Deer, said the number of contestants in his program has already doubled over last year.

"We weren't sure if anybody thought it was as good of an idea as we did, so it's cool to see it be embraced the way it's been," he said.

Marotta's involvement: 'How cool is that?'

Perhaps the biggest win of the day was Marotta becoming the first women's basketball player to compete in the event.

Marotta, who made a name for herself while at Marquette through her rebounding, said when Diener called her to be part of the team, the answer was easy.

"First of all, as a little kid who loved Marquette basketball, the fact I was shooting with Travis Diener and Steve Novak is already something crazy exciting," Marotta said. "Then I was like, 'Any other girls there?,' and they're like, 'No, you're the only girl' so I was like, 'How cool is that?'"

More: Children of Marquette icon Marc Marotta spread his legacy, on and off the court

Diener, who has three daughters of his own, said it was important to have Marotta on the team to be a role model to the younger women's basketball players.

"It's incredibly important to grow the women's game, selfishly now that I have three daughters," Diener said. "They're here watching and they look up to Chloe. ... She had an outstanding career at Marquette and is one of the alumni that represents the university so well."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Wisconsin basketball stars raise money for charity