Pat Flaherty’s One Shot Moment at the Palestra
There are gyms, and then there’s the Palestra — the Cathedral of Basketball — where every bounce feels louder, every cut feels sharper, and every player feels a little more like a legend if they can just string together a few good minutes.
On a night built on an old rivalry and a familiar edge — La Salle vs. Salesianum (“Sallies”) — it wasn’t the stars who swung the story. It was Pat Flaherty, a modest role player who was DNP (Did Not Play) the previous game, stepping into his own “one shot” moment.
Because in this building, it only takes one.
From DNP to “Don’t Take Him Out”
Pat didn’t come into the night chasing anything. He came in ready — ready to defend, ready to rebound, ready to run the floor and do the little things that don’t make a highlight reel.
But sometimes basketball has other plans.
Early in the first quarter, La Salle’s offense hit a patch of quicksand. The ball got sticky. The pace slowed. The kind of moment where coaches either ride it out… or change the energy.
Coach looked down the bench and gave Pat the nod — not with a speech, not with drama. Just the simple message every player understands:
You’re in.
And Pat responded like he’d been waiting for that exact second all season.
Three 3-Balls. First Quarter. Palestra Pressure.
Pat wasn’t just shooting — he was shooting free.
First one: in rhythm, catch-and-fire. Net.
Second one: a step into it, no hesitation. Net again.
Third one: the kind that makes the other bench shift in their seats. Splash.
Three 3-balls in the first quarter.
A role player turning minutes into momentum.
The La Salle bench erupted. Teammates met him at every timeout like he’d just cracked open the game with a crowbar. And the message became crystal clear:
Pat’s earned more run tonight.
Confidence Is a Stat, Too
Here’s what people miss about nights like this: the shots are the headline, but confidence is the real box score.
Pat had been a DNP the game before. That can mess with anyone’s head — make you press, make you doubt, make you play tight just trying not to make a mistake.
Instead, he played the opposite way.
He played like someone who trusted his preparation. Like someone who believed his teammates would find him. Like someone who felt his coach believed in him — and wanted to repay it with winning plays.
That confidence didn’t just show up behind the arc, either. Pat defended. He sprinted the floor. He stayed connected. He looked like a guy who didn’t want the moment to end — and didn’t play like someone afraid it would.
12 Points, One Swing, and a Rivalry Win
When the final horn sounded, the story was clean:
Pat Flaherty: 12 points
La Salle wins by three
Rivalry renewed, Palestra-style
And a role player became the reason the night tilted La Salle’s way
It wasn’t a 30-point explosion. It wasn’t a miracle half-court shot.
It was something better — something real.
It was the reminder that basketball rewards readiness. That the guy who didn’t play last game can be the guy who finishes this one. That teams don’t just win with talent — they win with belief, with trust, with the next man up.
The “One Shot” Truth
Eminem said it plain: you only get one shot.
Pat Flaherty got his — and in the Cathedral of Basketball, he didn’t just take it.
He buried it.
And somewhere between those three first-quarter threes and the way his teammates lifted him the whole rest of the night, you could feel it:
This wasn’t just a good stretch.
This was a player stepping into a new version of himself — the one who belongs in the rotation, the one who changes games, the one who will always remember the night the Palestra echoed back his name.
That’s not just a shining moment.
