Then he smiled and added, "Not that much, at least."

Hey, it's his job to drive them batty.

You think he'll give you an uncontested drive to the basket? No way. He'll scramble to a spot, plant his feet, maybe say a quick prayer and - thud - take your best shot before tumbling backward to collect yet another black or blue mark.

"He hurts people," cracked star guard DJ Irving.

The Pat Daly Story is one of persistence. Just like his ballclub's.

If you happened to take a peek at yesterday's Daily News, you learned Carroll had fallen to Ss. Neumann-Goretti (and forerunner St. John Neumann) 18 consecutive times (and twice this season) dating back to 2000-01. The skid did not reach 19, in part, because Daly is willing to bounce on his, um, butt.

Carroll 70, N-G 65.

That was the score last night in a wonderful (though foul-plagued) PIAA Class AAA quarterfinal before a crowd at Archbishop Ryan that was about 60 percent of capacity.

The Patriots showed hints of emotion as the final buzzer sounded, then roared down a hallway that led to a distant classroom. Some players' feet might have even touched the floor. Once inside, they exchanged 1,247 hugs/hand slaps (rough estimate) and then clapped in unison as an assistant coach bellowed several times, "We got the monkey off our back!"

Soon, coach Paul Romanczuk, referring to the Catholic League and state titles, was telling his players, in a surprisingly calm tone, "They got our one goal. They weren't going to get our other goal."

After the Patriots changed their clothes and returned to the gym, they were greeted in spirited fashion by maybe 100 supporters.

As you might expect in this important an accomplishment, heroes were numerous.

And Daly showed they can come from unexpected places. And earn their praise exclusively because of a desire to make sacrifices. The own-body variety, for instance.

Daly, a 6-5, 215-pound senior, scored no points as Carroll's sixth man; he missed his only shot. Didn't even grab a rebound. But he dove on the floor at any and all opportunities and, best of all, three times he stepped in front of N-G guys to take charges.

Each time, the Patriots - on the floor, and on the bench - roared their approval.

"We go over that all the time in practice. Just stepping in. Taking one for the team," said Daly, who sported a wicked scratch on the back of his neck. "Coach Paul preaches that the team is more important than the individual. That's our philosophy. We build on that.

"Coach Paul is always saying, 'Take the charge! . . . Take the charge! . . . The little things make the difference!' "

By now, Daly knows that it pays to listen to Romanczuk.

As mentioned earlier, Pat's story is one of persistence. Truth is, it featured hesitancy before Romanczuk opted for arm-twisting.

Daly was cut from the CYO team at St. Anastasia in Newtown Square as an eighth-grader. Got sliced again when he tried out for Carroll's freshman team. Didn't bother to give the program another whirl as a sophomore because he figured, "Why go through that again?"

But he was growing. After entering Carroll at 5-8, he was up to 6-4 by late fall of his junior year. Romanczuk happened to see Daly running up and down the court during an open-gym session and asked him to show up for tryouts.

"I missed that first one," Daly said, sheepishly. "Still a little nervous, I guess . . . He came looking for me."

In effect. What Romanczuk did was have athletic director Fran Murphy reinforce the notion that Pat should put in a tryout appearance. The rest is you-know-what.

"I knew I'd see some time this season," he said. "Just didn't know how much. I back up [classmate] Kasheef Festus. I bang him around in practice. Not only does that make him a better player, it makes me better, too."

Because of gamelong foul miseries, Festus had to settle for three points and seven rebounds. Irving (26), Juan'ya Green (16), Andre Wilburn (14) and Ben Mingledough (11) combined for the rest of the points, while Wilburn led in rebounds (10).

Green, largely quiet beforehand, packed 12 of his points into the fourth quarter . . . after Irving had lit up the third with 13.

Included in DJ's total were three consecutive treys. He hit the last - with a straight-on dead swish, in fact - from three-quarters' court while beating the buzzer. The miracle shot made it 44-39.

"I did that my freshman year vs. West Catholic. Same way. Same spot," Irving said. "I knew it was going in. It gave us energy going into the fourth quarter, which was exactly what we needed."

Overall, the Patriots went 28-for-38 at the line. N-G was 9-for-22.

Though Carroll led, 58-50, with 4:09 left, the Saints roared back almost exclusively behind junior guard Tony Chennault, who already has committed to Wake Forest. He scored 10 of his 21 points down the stretch, and his follow reduced the lead to 65-63. Irving and Green combined to go 5-for-6 at the line thereafter.

"I refused to lose to them again," Irving said. "I wasn't going to let my seniors go out like that."

Chennault added 11 rebounds and three steals. Niagara signee Andre "Scooter" Gillette totaled 14 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots.

Carroll will play York Suburban, a 47-35 winner over Crestwood, in a Tuesday semifinal. Details to be announced.

This much is already known: In practices beforehand, Pat Daly won't change.

Uh! . . . Uh! . . . Uh! That's him taking shots to the chest from teammates, who, deep down, are appreciative. *