Steve Tavernier, from Providence RI, made his way through a full field of 95 other players to win the Turning Stone Casino Classic at The Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY.
Tavernier made it through Saturday play undefeated and started off Sunday with a 9-7 win over tournament favorite Dennis Hatch. Tavernier's celebration was cut short as Ryan McCreesh sent him to the one-loss side with a 9-8 loss in his next match.
Tavernier came back through the one-loss side and defeated Carlos Vieira, Hatch and Frankie Hernandez to earn another shot at McCreesh in the finals.
Tavernier took an early 3-0 lead in the finals, before McCreesh could win a game. McCreesh was then grounded in chair as Tavernier won the next seven racks for a 10-1 lead. McCreesh won a game to get back to 10-2, but Tavernier then won the final three games for the 13-2 victory.
For Tavernier, it was his first Joss Tour victory and he picked the right event to do it. First place was worth $5500, while McCreesh settled for $3600 in second place prize money. Hernandez and Hatch filled out the top four spots. Use our online brackets to track all of the results from the event.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Ultimate Billiards Club in Berlin CT on March 5th-6th for their next event.
Complete Results:
1st Steve Tavernier $5,500
2nd Ryan McCreesh $3,600
3rd Frankie Hernandez $2,500
4th Dennis Hatch $2,000
5th/6th Carlos Vieira, Mark Ransom $1,500
7th/8th Jean Theriault, Santos Sambajon $1,000
9th/12th Teddy Garrahan, Lyn Wechsler, Ron Wiseman, Jose Parica $700
13th/16th Jay Stevens, Gary Empey, Dan Doerner, Mike Davis $400
17th/24th Allen Hopkins, Joe Dipietro, Pete Genovese, Ivaylo Petrov, Keith Mccready, Dave Fernandez, Mike Zuglan, Joe Tucker $200
Photo courtesy of Mitch Heydt
