James Stevens picked up his first win on the Predator Tour; in fact, based on information at our disposal, his first win in any tournament, with an undefeated run through 90 entrants, on hand for the $500-added, March 1-2 stop on the Predator Tour, hosted by Steinway Billiards, in Astoria, NY. Responding to concerns about the arrival of seriously inclement weather, the tour stop did not include an Open tournament.
Stevens faced different opponents in the hot seat and finals. Once he'd defeated Diana Rojas 7-5, among the winners' side final four, he faced Steve Wright, who'd just sent Stevens' eventual finals opponent, Victor Nau, to the losers' bracket 7-4. Stevens got into the hot seat with a 7-3 win over Wright and waited for Nau, who'd come later.
On the loss side, Nau picked up Luis Novas, who'd survived a double hill battle versus Dave Shlemperis, and defeated Roberto Mendoza 7-4. Rojas drew Chicky Romero, who'd gotten by Gus Iliotoulos 7-4 and Josh Friedberg 7-5. Nau and Rojas got right back to work, downing Novas (7-4) and Romero (7-3), and advancing to the quarterfinals.
Nau then navigated his way through two straight double hill matches; against Rojas in the quarterfinals, and then, Wright, in the semifinals. It gave him the shot at Stevens that he'd been looking for, although the end result was not what he'd expected. Stevens gave up only a single rack to Nau, completing his undefeated run with a dominating 8-1 performance to claim the event title.
