The Quezon Huskers pulled away early and never wavered to beat the Mindoro Tamaraws, 81-60, and move closer to the SportsPlus Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 2026 Season leaders at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Saturday.

Riding on Christian Pagaran, Michael Canete and Diego Dario, the Huskers clustered 12 points for a 28-15 spread after the first quarter, from which the Tamaraws could not recover.

Showing the form that made them the back-to-back South Division champions, the Huskers led as far as 78-54 before cruising to their second straight win in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 28-team tournament.

Pacesetters Caloocan, Bataan and Gensan tote 3-0 records.

Michael Canete notched 12 points and 12 rebounds to clinch the SportsPlus Best Player honors over Christian Pagaran, who carded 14 points and 3 rebounds, Jolo Manansala with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists, and John Abate with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Mindoro, which entered last year's playoffs, tumbled to 1-2 as only Marion Magat, with 13 points, eight rebounds and two assists, and Joseph Sedurifa, with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists, struck back.

The Huskers clobbered the Tamaraws off both boards, 55-29, and converted this advantage to more points in the paint, 32-12.

Debuting Pasig shook off a sluggish start to rout Paranaque, 76-56, in the nightcap.

Trailing at the half, 30-37, the Pasiguenos hit full throttle in the fourth quarter to lead by as many as 17 points, 72-55, and hand the Patriots their fourth straight defeat.

Warlo James Batac delivered the most for Pasig with 28 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals, followed by Ahron Estacio with 15 points, four steals and two rebounds, and Jacob Galicia with 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

The Patriots received 18 points, four rebounds, and three assists from Alvin Pasaol, 12 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two steals from Marlon Monte, and 11 points plus four assists from Ryusei Koga.