After pulling off a huge victory over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, NLEX downed another giant in Meralco as it completed a come-from-behind 92-81 triumph in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner's Cup on Wednesday at the Philsports Arena.

With the win, NLEX kept its flickering playoff hopes alive as it ended its elimination round campaign with a 5-7 win-loss record.

NLEX's victory likewise shut the door on Meralco's playoff hopes as the Bolts absorbed their seventh loss in 11 games. The Bolts will not be making the playoffs for the first time since the 2019 Commissioner's Cup.

Meralco is the second team from the MVP Group of Companies to get eliminated together with TNT Tropang Giga, while Terrafirma and Blackwater also got the boot.

The Road Warriors, however, will need to wait for the last elimination round game of Rain or Shine on the last scheduled play date on Friday before they could formalize their entry to the next round.

NLEX is praying for the Elasto Painters to lose to Magnolia to salvage a playoff for the eighth and final slot in the quarterfinal round.

A Rain or Shine win, on the other hand, would practically eliminate the Road Warriors.

For NLEX coach Frankie Lim and import Earl Clark, climbing back from a 57-39 deficit at the end of the first half showed their determination to keep their campaign going.

"Coach got into our heads and told us that we need to play like there's no tomorrow," Clark said.

"We were playing like it's just the beginning of the season. That it wasn't a do-or-die game. We answered the call."

Lim admitted that his blood pressure nearly went up following a lackadaisical showing from his troops in the first 24 minutes of play.