PHILADELPHIA — Outside of his team’s locker room Friday, D.J. Irving was meandering through the halls at Archbishop Ryan High School.

The Archbishop Carroll junior was looking for someone to pinch him. He wanted to make certain that the 90-minute workout he had just endured (and its stunning end result) wasn’t a dream.

“If it is,” Irving said, “I hope nobody wakes me up.”

Wiping sweat from his brow, Irving breathed heavily. He had, only moments earlier, huffed and puffed his way to a game-best 26 points and willed the Patriots to an improbable 70-65 win over Neumann-Goretti in a PIAA Class AAA quarterfinal game at Ryan.

Well, improbable to everyone but Irving.

The way he saw it, Pennsylvania’s top-ranked team had beaten the Patriots twice this season — both in Catholic League Blue Division play. And the Saints had knocked them off 18 straight times over the last eight seasons.

It was time to change that tune, Irving said. And the point guard, undaunted by the mountainous defender the Saints boast in the paint, looked like he was playing to his own beat.

“I was iffy before we came into the game,” said Irving, who looked nearly indefensible in the game-altering third quarter. “I just said to myself, ‘I refuse to lose to them again.’ I’ve lost to them so many times since I’ve been at Carroll. And I just didn’t want to lose to them again, like this.

“I love our seniors on this team and I didn’t want to let them down.”

Irving did not disappoint. He made all five of his shots in the third quarter and scored 13 points in the frame, all of them coming in a five-minute, 41-second window.

And as Neumann-Goretti (26-3) was knocking on Carroll’s door, Irving unleashed a half-court heave that beat the clock before it hit triple zeroes. It also gave the Patriots a cozy 44-39 lead heading into the final eight minutes of their physical battle with the Saints, ranked 14th nationally by ESPN/Rise Magazine’s Fab 50 and first in the state by the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Irving had no doubt that his 3-pointer was going in.

“The way it left my hands, I did that my freshman year versus West Catholic, and it was from the exact same spot,” he said.

That third-quarter lead was being threatened when the Patriots lost forwards Kasheef Festus and Andre Wilburn to foul outs. Not a team with a deep bench or much size, the Pats sent in senior Pat Daly to guard the middle. The 6-5 forward gave up four inches to the Saints’ 6-9 stud center Andre Gillette. But Daly put his body on the line, drawing three charges in the game.

“I wanted to take one for the team,” Daly said. “They’re definitely intimidating, but I got low and played strong and it worked.”

In the fourth, Irving did not make a bucket. He didn’t need to. The Patriots (26-4) were put at the free-throw line 21 times and converted 15 of them. Sophomore Juan’ya Green (8-for-10 at the line, 15 points) and Ben Mingledough (5-for-7, 11) were clutch there.

Wilburn, who had 14 points, was the Patriots’ other double-digit scorer.

The Patriots, newcomers to the PIAA and winners of three games in March, seem to be getting a hang of this state-playoff thing.

With the win, the Patriots extended their program’s debut in the state tourney by at least one game. Tuesday night, they will play District Three champion York Suburban, a 47-35 winner over Crestwood, in one of the Class AAA semifinals.

The best win of Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk’s six-year coaching career — and the Patriots’ first over the Saints since 2001 — could get bumped to the No. 2 spot after only four days.

“Hopefully it’s not the best win for too long,” Romanczuk said. “We’re keeping focused that there’s a bigger goal than beating Neumann-Goretti.”

Visit Christopher A. Vito’s high school sports blog, Gettin’ Schooled, at delcotimes.com.