WATCH: Interview with Coach Chito Victolero and Best Player Paul Lee [Dec. 16, 2022]

Paul Lee delivered a buzzer-beater from a broken play and then found himself pinned on the floor by teammates in frenzied celebration.

With Lee’s game-long brilliance capped by a winning play in the closing seconds, the Magnolia Hotshots stole a 96-95 win over the Barangay Ginebra Kings that forged a 1-1 tie in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semifinal showdown at the PhilSports Arena Friday.

It had looked a lost game when Lee lost control of the ball from an in-bound play with five seconds left.

But the wild sequence that followed saw Lee surprisingly regaining control and then firing away as the Hotshots salvaged the game to send the series back to scratch.

Foiled was Ginebra’s bid for a two-game-to-nil lead in the race-to-three-games series.

Lee finished with a game-high 24 points also highlighted by five-of-eight clip from downtown while Nick Rakocevic came through with 23 markers and 20 rebounds in his return from an ejection in Game 1.

Jio Jalalon put in 15 markers and starred in their third-quarter juggernaut while Mark Barroca and Calvin Abueva had their moments in the wild, wooly finish.