Huskers, Greats draw first blood

The Quezon Huskers and the Cebu Greats took different victory routes in the SportsPlus Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League 2026 Season South Division quarterfinal round on Wednesday at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City.

Showing why it’s the reigning back-to-back South Division champion, Quezon trounced Zamboanga, 88-55, in the nightcap, while Cebu leaned on Ron Dennison’s corner triple with 10.7 seconds left to nip Batangas City, 78-77, in the opener of their best-of-three series.

After a tight first quarter, the Huskers poured in 23 points and held the Zamboangueños to six and pulled away for good, 41-23, at the break.

Quezon and Cebu shoot for a repeat and a semifinal slot on Wednesday when they tangle with the same opponents at the Batangas City Coliseum.

Jolo Manansala posted 15 points, six rebounds and two assists to clinch the SportsPlus Best Player honors over Judel Fuentes, who notched 10 points and two rebounds.

Other Huskers who delivered were Christian Pagaran, with nine points; Cholo Añonuevo, with eight points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists; and Joseph Peñaredonodo, with eight points, three rebounds and two assists.

Zamboanga drew 11 points each from Paeng Are, Levi Hernandez and Brandon Wilson.

Batangas failed to reverse the outcome after Jeckster Apinan, who was left open after a well-executed inbound play, missed from pointblank, and in the ensuing ball scramble, Dennison got fouled with 2.9 seconds to go.

Dennison, a former Far Eastern University Tamaraw, muffed his first free throw and intentionally missed the second, leaving Batangas no time to launch a desperation heave at the final buzzer.

It was a stingy loss for the Athletics as they had crawled back from a 65-75 deficit with 3:28 left by bundling 12 points to seize control at 77-75 with 22 seconds remaining.

Jun Manzo celebrated his return to the Greats’ roster by scoring 21 points, including four triples, completing three steals and handing two assists to emerge as the Best Player over Mark Meneses, who posted 14 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.

Dennison finished with 11 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals, followed by Dhon Reverente, with 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Batangas drew 23 points, spiked with five triples, and five rebounds from Rhinwill Yambing, and 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists from Ablaza.