MANILA: Barangay Ginebra got the opportunity to extend its amazing playoff streak gift-wrapped on Wednesday night, and practically bled the entire 48 minutes to make use of it.

Japeth Aguilar drained a broken play triple with 1.7 seconds left that keyed a 110-107 victory over a gritty NLEX side for the final playoff berth in the PBA Governors’ Cup before a raucous crowd at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Up against an opponent that fought it hard even with nothing to gain, the Gin Kings trailed for all but three minutes before Aguilar found himself with the playoff-clinching shot he drilled over the outstretched arm of KG Canaleta.

Ginebra finished the elimination round with a 5-6 record like KIA Motors, Meralco and Talk ‘N Text, but grabbed the last seat in the eight-team playoffs after the tiebreak via the quotient, finishing second to the Bolts.

Meralco was involved in the tie after taking an 88-85 loss at the hands of the newcomer Carnival earlier in the night, the opportunity that Ginebra was waiting for.

Had the Bolts, who led by seven with five minutes to go, won that game, Ginebra would have been eliminated and the Tropang Texters would have been the eighth seed.

But thanks to another monster game by Hamady N’Diyae and the steady shooting of LA Revilla and Karl Dehesa for the Carnival, Ginebra earned a new lease on life and the Gin Kings played their hearts out to force the Road Warriors to exit on a losing note.

The Carnival needed to win by at least 17 points to advance if Ginebra was to win, but even with the tall odds, KIA fought it out hard against Meralco, which failed to give sister team Talk ‘N Text the lift it needed to make the playoffs.

Manny Pacquiao, the boxing legend who is listed as the coach of KIA, finally showed up and watched the entire game, letting Chito Victolero do the coaching as the Carnival exited in style.

Ginebra’s victory meant that the Kings will be playing in their 25th playoffs, a streak that spans more than a decade.

The Kings, though, will be up against tall odds since they will be needing to beat tournament No. 1 Alaska two straight times to make it to the Final Four.

That game is slated at 7 p.m. Friday night, moments after Globalport and defending champion Star open up the quarterfinals in the 4:15 p.m. contest. The Batang Pier also need to win just once to bundle out the Hotshots.

The other quarterfinal pairings will have No. 2 San Miguel Beer battling No. 7 Meralco and the third-seeded Rain or Shine Elasto Painters battling No. 6 Barako Bull and 7-foot Liam McMorrow.

Those games will be played Saturday with the Beermen and the Painters also needing to win just once to seal a Final Four clash.

The survivors of the Alaska-Ginebra and Globalport-Star series will advance opposite each other in the other semifinal pairing. Both Final Four series will be best-of-five affairs with the championship being a race-to-four.

Point guard LA Tenorio, the former Jones Cup MVP who has struggled this season for Ginebra, was the other hero for the Kings, shooting 21 points built around a 5-of-10 clip from beyond the arc, with Orlando Johnson also shooting 21.

“They left Japeth wide open and that made me look good,” Ginebra coach Frankie Lim said in acknowledging that the game-winner came from a broken play.

The Road Warriors, after trailing 0-2, were in the lead up until the final 2:08, when Korean Kim Ji-wan hit a triple that made it 101-100. Tenorio’s last trey ushered the Kings to a 104-103 lead with 1:47 left.

NLEX had possession with 1.7 seconds remaining but couldn’t get the ball to Michael Madanly on the inbound, settling to Canaleta to take the potential game-tying three which the former Slam Dunk King barely missed at the buzzer.

Madanly scored 36 points to pace the Road Warriors, who lost import Kwame Alexander to fouls in the endgame and leaned on Asi Taulava for the muscle underneath.

Taulava, the former MVP, tied the game for the last time at 107 with 15.8 remaining when he followed up a miss by Mark Borboran.