FLASHBACK: How The Post reported the story yesterday.
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Lonesome beauty queen Nana Meriwether wasn’t dateless for long.
The Miss USA stunner, who had so much trouble finding love in the Big Apple that she had to look online, finally found a match yesterday when handsome Post reporter Frank Rosario showed up at her doorstep.
But the scrappy scribe was big-footed by basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal — who muscled in on the action and escorted the sexy South African to a red-carpet event last night.
Rosario tried to court the lovely lady the old-fashioned way — with a bouquet of flowers and a hefty dose of charm.
“Oh, this is such a surprise . . . Of course I’d love to go out with you!” she told the reporter, who presented her with pink peonies and dahlias.
“I’m very busy — but maybe Friday?” she said with a smile. She then gave him a big hug, but their bliss lasted only minutes.
NBA champ O’Neal took the easy way out. His friend Adam Sandler then helped him lure the 6-foot siren.
The pair attended last night’s premiere of the movie “Grown-ups 2” on the Upper West Side.
“I finally got a date! Thanks to @AdamSandler for the hookup! Can you guess who the handsome fellow is!? He’s taking me to the @GrownUpsMovie,” Meriwether tweeted before the event.
But just because Shaq stands almost two feet taller than Rosario — and is worth about $250 million more — doesn’t mean he knows a thing about romance.
Rosario, who won’t go down without a fight, plans to use chivalry to prove love can be found in New York City.
Before Shaq stole his thunder, Rosario was the clear favorite over the scores of men who came out of the woodwork to woo Meriwether after she revealed she favors the dating app Tinder over New York’s brutal dating scene.
“It’s funny — the guys I’ve said yes to have all been like, ‘Are you real?’ ” Meriwether told New York magazine.
She told the magazine that Big Apple men don’t have the attention span for a real relationship:
“Here’s the thing about dating in New York: It doesn’t exist. There’s so much going on in the city, there are so many distractions, that people just forget to go on a second date.”
Her publicist said Meriwether is just having fun with the app.
“She looks at it like walking into a party and saying hello to a bunch of people,” he said.