Matthew Harricharan, Raphael DaBreo, Owner Manny Stamatakis and Bryan Singh
Raphael Dabreo re-entered the Tri-State Tour winners' circle on the weekend of November 23-24 with an undefeated run through a field of 54, on hand for the $1,600-added, A-D handicapped 9-ball tournament, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. It was his third win on the 2013-2014 Tri-State tour, and his fourth win of the year, which included a September victory on the Predator Tour. DaBreo stopped a nine-match, loss-side winning streak by Matthew Harricharan to complete his undefeated run.
DaBreo's six-match trail to the win included two, double hill victories. He followed an opening round, 7-5 victory over Dan Faraguna, with a double hill win over Chris Karp, and a 7-4 win over Meshak Daniel, which set him up in a winners' side semifinal against Keith Adamik. Bryan Singh, in the meantime, squared off against Jamiyl Adams in the other semifinal. DaBreo and Adamik battled to double hill, before DaBreo prevailed for a hot seat matchup versus Singh, who'd downed Adams double hill, as well. DaBreo sent Singh to the semifinals 9-5 and waited in the hot seat for what turned out to be Harricharan.
Harricharan, who'd been sent to the loss side by Meshak Daniel, double hill, had chalked up four, before surviving two straight double hill battles against Tony Liang and Lidio Ramirez (who'd spoiled a rematch by defeating Meshak Daniel 7-2). This set Harricharan up to face Adamik. Adams drew Eric Hummel, who'd gotten by Kim Meyer-Gabia 7-3 and Pat Mareno 6-1.
Harricharan stopped Adamik one game shy of a third straight double hill match ,7-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Adams, who'd defeated Hummel 7-4. Harricharan then chalked up a third double hill win, defeating Adams in those quarterfinals, and then, defeating Singh in the semifinals 8-4 for a shot against DaBreo.
Harricharan took an early 2-0 lead in the finals and maintained it through the sixth match. Down 2-4, DaBreo took command at that point, winning five straight to claim his third 2013-2014 Tri-State title.
Tour representatives expressed their thanks to Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards for their hospitality, playing conditions and on-going support of the tour and its players. They also thanked sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Heptig Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next stop on the tour is scheduled for November 30 at Gotham Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
