Cunanan comes through with clutch freebies as Pirates stun Lions

Games Wednesday

(Filoil EcoOil Arena)

11 a.m. - Arellano vs St. Benilde

2:30 p.m. - JRU vs SSC-R

MANILA, Philippines — Vincent Cunanan drained a pair of thunderous triples late as Lyceum of the Philippines University shocked San Beda, 64-62, on Tuesday to leapfrog straight to the magic four in NCAA Season 100 at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.

After failing to hit a single 3-pointer in his first six attempts, Cunanan got his chance at redemption and made two clutch ones that powered the Pirates to their sixth win against five defeats, which was good enough to send them gatecrashing to the top four alongside the Letran Knights.

“Broken play yun, wala na kasi mapasahan sobra na check na mga scorers namin, ako na last shot,” said Cunanan, the LPU captain who finished with 11 points.

John Barba, the league’s scoring leader with an average of 19.78 points a game, had a rough game on this one as he missed all his 11 shots from the field and ended up with just four points — all from the free throw line — but made up for it by playing decoy.

And it was Barba who found Cunanan open twice that resulted in the latter hitting the pair of massive daggers.

“Actually, Barba is our option but sometimes ginagawa namin siya decoy, just like in our last two plays,” said LPU coach Gilbert Malabanan.

The win avenged the Pirates’ stinging 79-63 defeat to the Lions on opening day a month ago.

“Syempre, iba Beda pag kalaban mo, syempre champion team sila. Any team gusto talunin Beda,” said Cunanan.

The defending champion stumbled to 7-4.

The scores:

Lyceum 64 – Montaño 12, Cunanan 11, Bravo 9, Daileg 7, Villegas 6, Aviles 5, Barba 4, Peñafiel 4, Panelo 2, Versoza 2, Gordon 2, Moralejo 0, Pallingayan 0.

San Beda 62 – Lina 12, Andrada 11, Puno 10, Sajonia 8, Estacio 8, Payosing 6, Tagle 5, Songcuya 2, Gonzales 0, Celzo 0, RC Calimag 0, Royo 0.

Quarterscores: 12-20; 31-32; 44-44; 64-62