MANILA, Philippines – Barangay Ginebra’s five-game winning streak was broken by NLEX, which also stopped its own five-game losing streak.

After their humiliating loss to Terrafirma, the Road Warriors struggled to recover, but they did it admirably to stun the once-rampaging Gin Kings in overtime, 120 to 117, to maintain their tenuous chances in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Friday night at the PhilSports Arena.

Earl Clark scored 37 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and dished out seven assists, and Don Trollano scored 26 points before cramping up, helping NLEX to an improved 4 to 7 record and a tie for 10th place with idle TNT.

Going into the final stretch of the eliminations, the Gin Kings dropped to 7 to 3 and were in fourth place behind the No. 1 ranked Bay Area (10 to 2), Magnolia (8 to 2) and Converge (8 to 3) teams.

After defeating Tim Cone, his former mentor with Alaska, NLEX coach Frankie Lim commented, “I think tonight was extremely memorable for the guys because they’re playing a huge squad and a very powerful club like Ginebra.”

When playing against Ginebra, he continued, “the struggle is always there; even if you’re up by seven or six (in the stretch), you’re not confident of a win. And I commend my players, especially my assistant coaches, for coming through.”

NLEX had a lead of 108 to 103 with 3:07 remaining in regulation, but it soon vanished as Scottie Thompson and Justin Brownlee led a savage attack that gave Ginebra a 113 to 111 advantage. In the final play of the fourth, after Clark tied the score, Brownlee was compelled to miss the crucial jump shot that could have won the game.

Ginebra grabbed control of the game in overtime with Thompson’s bucket, 117-116, but NLEX won back the lead thanks to Brandon Ganuelas Rosser’s thunderous corner three-pointer. The Gin Kings were then defeated by the Road Warriors, and Paul Varilla split to increase the advantage to four. After losing to Terrafirma 114 to 124 the week prior, a result that allowed the Dyip to snap a 25-game losing streak over the previous nine months, it was a significant comeback for Lim’s team.

Trollano stated, “We were inspired by the awful loss to Terrafirma. Hindi kami pwedeng matalo tonight. [We can’t lose tonight] “We also struck an agreement with Coach, which provided us a little more vigor to make the win,”

If his team defeated Ginebra, Lim offered to give his players more than a week of rest.

Scores at the end of the match

NLEX with 120 points

Individual scores: Clark 37, Trollano 26, Alas 18, Ganuelas-Rosser 11, Nieto 10, Chua 9, Rosales 8, Varilla 1, Miranda 0

Ginebra with 117 points

Individual scores: Brownlee 39, Thompson 17, J.Aguilar 13, Malonzo 12, Gray 11, Pringle 11, Standhardinger 9, Tenorio 5, Mariano 0

Scores per quarter

25 to 22, 54 to 58, 90 to 83, 113 to 113, 120 to 117 overtime