Cunanan dagger treys lift Pirates over Lions

MANILA, Philippines —   Vincent Cunanan drained a pair of triples late as Lyceum of the Philippines U shocked San Beda, 64-62, yesterday to leapfrog straight to the Magic Four in NCAA Season 100 at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.

After missing his first six three-point attempts, Cunanan got his chance at redemption and made two clutch hits that lifted the Pirates to their sixth win against five defeats and into the top four alongside the Letran Knights.

“Broken play ‘yun. Wala na kasi mapasahan. Sobra na check 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 outing as he missed all his 11 shots from the field and ended up with just four points off charities but made up for it by playing decoy.

And it was Barba who found Cunanan open for the pair of daggers.

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

In the other game, Marc Cuenco hit a massive triple as Mapua edged Emilio Aguinaldo College, 82-79, to seize solo second spot with an 8-3 card. The Generals skidded to 5-6.