Converge should’ve known better not to engage San Miguel Beer in a shootout.

The unbeaten Beermen dropped 51 points in the third quarter to humble the lowly FiberXers, 112-103, and secure a quarterfinals seat in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup on Friday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

San Miguel’s explosion in the third period eclipsed its total output in the first two quarters where it trailed by as many as 12 to set the tone for its sixth straight win in as many outings.

“We started bad again. It was like the Terrafirma game when we had a long break and in the first quarter we lacked energy which happened again now,” San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent said.

“As what I was telling my players, the game is not finished in the first half and you gotta pick up your game in the second half which everybody did.”

Trailing by seven entering the second half, the Beermen flicked open its offensive switch to overwhelm the shocked FiberXers, who looked ready to pull off a huge upset only to fall flat on their faces anew for a 0-8 win-loss record.

San Miguel erected its largest lead, 93-68, after Don Trollano sank a three-pointer with 33 seconds remaining in the third canto.

Scoreless in the first half, Marcio Lassiter fired 17 points in the third period highlighted by a 5-of-6 outside shooting clip to finish with 19 points with five rebounds and three assists for the Beermen.

CJ Perez posted a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds, Trollano had 19 while Terrence Romeo had 18 points for San Miguel, which played sans injured Jericho Cruz (tendon).

Center June Mar Fajardo fended off getting into foul trouble to stay in the game to close the night with 14 points, 17 rebounds, four blocks and three assists.

Converge played loose and relaxed in the opening half and hit the shots it wanted against a tight San Miguel Beer side bothered by center June Mar Fajardo getting into early foul trouble with three.

Alec Stockton led the FiberXers assault in the first 24 minutes of action with 13 including two foul shots for their biggest advantage of the half, 34-22, with 10:30 left in the second quarter.

Perez and Romeo tried to keep San Miguel’s deficit from blowing out of proportion with timely baskets in the second quarter.

The Beermen drew close, 47-42, on Perez’s layup with under two minutes left before Converge entered halftime with a 50-43 advantage.

Stockton registered a career-best 36 points off an 11-of-20 field goal shooting, but all his efforts came to naught. He filled the stats sheet with six boards, four assists and a steal in 37 minutes of play.

Justine Arana got 18 points while Bryan Santos and King Caralipio scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the also-ran FiberXers.