SAN Miguel Beer showed up against Converge not lacking in motivation last Sunday night.
Ranged against a young FiberXers crew displaying a lot of potential, coach Leo Austria’s team went into battle raring to make up for a numbing loss to Ginebra the last time out.
“I told them we have to bounce back hard against this team. We know Converge ay hindi puwedeng biruin, makikita naman natin na some of the future stars ay nasa kanila,” Austria said.
“It’s a great motivation, mga nakikita namin iyong potential nila and if we will make a good game puwede naming dalhin in our next few games kasi sunod-sunod ang games namin,” he added.
Austria spoke after SMB dismantled Converge 111-92 to get back on track and gain a share of the lead in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Jericho Cruz led five other Beermen in double-digits with 22 points and six assists, while Mo Tautuaa and June Mar Fajardo chipped in 19 and 18 markers, respectively.
CJ Perez notched his first career triple-double in the pro league with 15 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 dimes while Marcio Lassiter added 12 markers and seldom-used big man Michael Cañete had 10.
The Beermen led by as much as 57-26 on a Lassiter three-pointer at the 4:02 mark of the second quarter en route to the big bounce back win after dropping a 72-75 decision to the Kings last Friday and hiked their record to 4-1 in a tie with Ginebra.
Converge, coming off a 97-84 thumping of Terrafirma last Wednesday, absorbed its fourth loss against two wins in the season-opening tourney.
Allyn Bulanadi carried the fight for the FiberXers with 22 points and two caroms, while Mike DiGregorio had 21 markers.
Tyrus Hill, Maverick Ahanmisi, and David Murrell also contributed 15, 10, and 10 points for Converge, respectively.
Cañete’s fine showing and backup guard Paul Zamar’s quality minutes also pleased Austria.
“I’m happy for them because everybody stepped up. Some of the players, especially Mike Cañete, unleashed his potential, and I was able to give Paul Zamar some quality minutes,” he said. “I hope itong ginagawa namin ay magdire-diretso na.”
