By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Vince Cunanan came alive in the overtime period as the Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates pulled off a 99-96 victory over the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Heavy Bombers in the NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan City on Tuesday, October 24.

Trailing 88-93 with less than two minutes left in the overtime period, Cunanan converted two free throws, a layup and a three-pointer to give the Pirates a 95-94 advantage with less than a minute to go.

The Heavy Bombers quickly reclaimed the lead at 96-95 via a layup by Jonathan Medina, but Cunanan found Enoch Valdez for a corner three-pointer as the Pirates surged ahead at 98-96 with 29 seconds left.

Following a missed basket by the Heavy Bombers, Valdez split his free throws to make it a 99-96 score with 12 seconds remaining.

JRU still had a chance to send the game into the second overtime, but Agem Miranda missed his three-point attempt.

Cunanan finished with 20 points, nine assists, four rebounds, and two steals.

Valdez and Patrick Montano added 14 markers apiece, while Shawn Umali, John Barba and John Bravo contributed 13, 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Pirates, 7-3.

Joshua Guiab tallied a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. Miranda added 19 markers and JL delos Reyes ended up with 14 points and 11 assists as the Heavy Bombers dropped to 6-4.

Meanwhile, Ralph Robin regained his offense in time as the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals pulled off a come-from-behind 80-77 victory over the San Sebastian College Golden Stags.

Down by as much as 22 points in the opening half, the Generals slowly clawed their way back until Robin took over with 10 straight points, including back-to-back triples, to give the Generals a 76-72 lead.

The Stags cut the deficit to 77-79 behind two free throws by Alex Desoyo with 10.7 seconds left, but Robin’s split free throw secured the come-from-behind victory for the Generals.

Robin finished the contest with 13 points, with 11 coming in the final minutes of the game.

JP Maguliano tallied double-double 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Nat Cosejo contributed 16 markers as the Generals improved to 6-4.

LYCEUM 99 — Cunanan 20, Valdez 14, Montano 14, Umali 13, Barba 12, Bravo 10, Penafiel 5, Villegas 4, Omandac 3, Aviles 2, Culanay 2, Fuentes 0, Versoza 0.

JRU 96 — Guiab 21, Miranda 19, Delos Santos 14, Argente 10, Sarmiento 8, Dionisio 6, Medina 6, Pabico 6, Sy 3, Arenal 2, Dela Rosa 1, De Leon 0, Ramos 0, Mosqueda 0.

Quarterscores: 28-23, 54-53, 71-72, 87-all (OT), 99-96./ASC, WDJ