Kobey Lam played the hero’s role with the go-ahead basket and a huge offensive rebound off his own miss in the closing seconds of Macau’s 96-92 come-from-behind win over Terrafirma in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Governors’ Cup Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Tied at 92, Lam converted in the transition and drew a foul from Brent Paraiso with 10.2 seconds left to put the Giant Pandas back on top.

He missed his bonus free throw but outhustled Dyip import Justin Strings and Maverick Ahanmisi in chasing down the offensive board.

Damian Chongqui nailed a pair of insurance charities with 4.1 seconds left to give Macau a four-point separation before Juami Tiongson’s four-point attempt went off the mark as the Giant Pandas survived a thriller where they needed to claw out of a 15-point first half hole.

Macau won back-to-back games after a flat start and improved to a 2-4 win-loss record in Group A to end the first round of the double-round robin eliminations.

“We knew that this is one of the games that if we want to make the playoffs, we’ve got to get these past few games, still a couple of them. I think this is big for our confidence,” Giant Pandas coach Marcus Elliot said.

Despite nursing injuries, De’Vondre Perry and Chongqui provided the chunk of Macau’s offense.

Perry had a double-double of 34 points and 14 rebounds while Chongqui added 29 on a 10-of-20 field goal shooting and a 9-of-10 free throw clip. Perry played with shoulder and back issues while Chongqui is nursing a deep thigh contusion.

“I don’t think they knew before the game what the situation is going to be. They’re pretty much game-time decision. See how their body felt. I appreciate them being some dogs, being tough-minded and gritty and coming in, helping us get that win,” Elliot said of his two main scorers.

Lam finished with 12 points, Ramon Cao had nine while Jenning Leung scored eight and dished out his lone assist to Lam for the go-ahead basket.

Strings put Terrafirma up, 92-90, on a hook shot with 1:38 left. Perry tied it at 92 with 44 ticks left.

Terrafirma had a second serving after Tiongson bricked a triple but Ahanmisi lost the handle as Leung stole the ball and heaved it forward to a rushing Lam for the and-one layup.

“It just shows we got heart and we’re out here competing every night. And it showed us we got what it takes to win games. It’s just big for us, for the momentum going into our next game,” Chongqui said.

Macau trailed the Dyip, 22-37, in the second quarter and was behind by 11 heading into the halftime break.

Terrafirma also ended the first round with a 2-4 mark.

Strings had 34 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Dyip. Ahanmisi posted 20 markers, nine boards and eight assists while Tiongson had 15 points.