Ratner finds success, faith at Division II Mercyhurst

Although history ultimately might not regard it as such, Heiden Ratner's two-year basketball career might have been the best thing to happen at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., since The Wonders won the big talent show there in Tom Hanks' movie "That Thing You Do."

The Wonders were a hometown band from Erie who hit it big when Guy, the drummer who wore shades, sped up the tempo in the title track.

Ratner, a graduate of Las Vegas' Silverado High School, had the same effect on the basketball program at Division II Mercyhurst after transferring from Division I James Madison.

He sped up the tempo. He didn't wear shades, probably because it snows a lot in Erie.

The 6-foot point guard averaged 13.3 points as a junior and 19.6 as a senior. He nearly led the Lakers to their first NCAA Division II tournament berth until encountering a slippery slope, or at least a Slippery Rock.

A 51-45 loss to The Rock in the PSAC quarterfinals -- "that's our conference, not sure what it stands for," Ratner said -- ended Mercyhurst's season, and Ratner's college career, on March 1.

"Crazy how fast it goes," Ratner said, and isn't that always the truth?

Part of the charm of Division II sports is that a guy can finish his career without knowing what the conference acronym stands for. PSAC is short for Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, Mercyhurst's new conference. It's old conference was the GLIAC -- Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The point guard before Ratner may or may not have known what GLIAC stood for.

Although it sounds more like an ambulance company, Mercyhurst is a Catholic liberal arts school with a student enrollment of 4,200. There are very few arenas in NCAA Division II. There are mostly gymnasiums and field houses. Mercyhurst plays its home games in the Mercyhurst Athletic Center, which is just a fancy name for a multipurpose gym that seats 1,800.

The Mercyhurst mascot is called "Louie the Laker." This is part of the charm of Division II sports, too.

The last entry on the Mercyhurst basketball website, dated March 3, says the team would learn its fate regarding the Division II tournament that evening. It has not been updated.

These things happen in Division II, where the sports information staffs, like the gyms and field houses, aren't that big.

So how does a guy from Las Vegas wind up hooping it up in Erie, Pa.? Ratner said that's the question he gets asked all the time. That, and which way to the field house?

He had averaged 23.4 minutes as a freshman at James Madison but then there was a coaching change. Then he averaged 9.6 minutes as a sophomore. Then he thought about transferring to another D-I school.

One of the James Madison assistants had contacts in Division II, and he thought Ratner could become a big fish in a Division II pond, if playing right away and not sitting out a transfer year mattered to him.

Ratner was still thinking about that a couple of hours later when Gary Manchel, the Mercyhurst coach, called. For the first time. Of many times.

When Ratner returned to Las Vegas, Manchel was sitting in his living room, chatting with Heiden's parents Marc (the former Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director and a current executive with the Ultimate Fighting Championship) and Jody.

By then, Ratner had decided he would give that big fish/small pond thing a try, but other D-II coaches were interested, too.

"Yeah," Manchel said, "but how many are sitting in your living room?"

A few weeks later, Heiden Ratner was shaking hands with Louie the Laker. It was September in Erie. Snow flurries were in the air.

"I look back at the last four years as a fun journey," Ratner said. "I was able to play at a high level and never had a serious injury. It's been a blessing.

"Whether you are playing in front of 15,000 or 500, I just wanted to be out there and make an impact on the game. That was my goal, and I was able to do that."

When I spoke with Ratner, he was on his way to a class -- this being Division II -- called "Prophets and Tradition." He's a religious studies major, having been introduced to the spiritual side of life through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes while at James Madison.

"I got my hands on the Bible and it was a life-changing experience. There's much more to life than dribbling around an orange basketball," Ratner said.

And yet, if there's a chance to continue dribbling around an orange basketball overseas next year, why not take it?

To quote The Wonders at the Mercyhurst College talent show, it's still that thing Heiden Ratner does.

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.