WATCH: Interview with Coach Leo Austria and Best Player CJ Perez [June 26, 2022]

Before leaving their dugout after a loss the last time against Barangay Ginebra, the San Miguel Beermen urged one another to bounce back — and bounce back strong — right away in their next outing.

They played with great resolve to accomplish that goal, coming out strong and keeping their foot on the pedal on the way to a 111-92 rout of Converge in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo Sunday.

“We motivated ourselves right after that loss,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria referring to the 75-72 defeat to Ginebra that snapped their three-game winning run.

CJ Perez came through with a career first triple-double game with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, leading SMB players who rebounded bigtime from their poor showing against the Gin Kings.

Jericho Cruz dished out his finest game in a San Miguel uniform, firing away 22 markers while June Mar Fajardo (18 points and 16 rebounds) and Moala Tautuaa (19 and 10) piled up double-double numbers as the Beermen simply refused to go down two in a row.

Marcio Lassiter fired three three-pointers and finished with 12 markers while Michael Canete had his breakout outing with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists, helping San Miguel catch up with Ginebra atop the heap at 4-1.

Converge, continuing to miss a number of lead guys including Jeron Teng, just didn’t have an answer to San Miguel’s tremendous firepower and fell to 2-4.