The last match-up in the second round of the World Professional Billiard League’s Championship Playoffs were played at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The action took place on Tuesday February 11th when the #2 seed Minnesota Outlaws defeated the #11 seed Miami Cruise.
The Outlaws capitalized on some early miscues by the Cruise and jumped out to a 5-0 match lead, then held on for a 7-2 victory over the Miami team to advance to the semi-final round of the WPBL playoffs.
Thorsten Hohmann, Ralf Souquet, and Jesse Engel opened up play with a 30-3 win over Miami's Corey Deuel, Jose Parica, and Hunter Lombardo to take a 2-0 lead. Engel and Hohmann then paired up for a 30-18 win over Parica and Deuel, lifting Minnesota's lead to 4-0 before Minnesota picked up another shoot-out point when Hohmann and Souquet edged Deuel and Lombardo 25-24.
Lombardo committed 3 scratch fouls in the first half, but did help Miami pick up a shoot-out point in the final doubles game of the match when he paired with Parica for a 25-15 win, to make the score 5-1 at the half-way point of the match.
The deficit remained 4 after the first singles game, as Engel and Parica each picked up a point in a thrilling 30-30 tie that saw Parica make two incredible shots on the bonus ball to reach the 30 point plateau. Twice faced with long banks from one end of the table to the other, he was good on both to help his team earn a point, keeping them alive in the match.
Hohmann increased Minnesota's lead to 7-2 by knocking off Deuel 27-18 in singles with just two games left in the match. Souquet then clinched his singles match by sending the game with Lombardo to a shoot-out that left no way for Miami to earn enough points to match Minnesota's 7.
The Outlaws next face the Pittsburgh Poison on Thursday February 13th in the first match-up in the semi-final round of the tournament. The winner of that match faces Wednesday's semi-final winner between Earl Strickland's New York Pride and Johnny Archer's Atlanta Scorpions. Both semi-final matches will be at 6:30 PST, with the WPBL Championship match scheduled for Saturday February 15th at 1 pm PST.
The tournament takes a break Friday night for the WPBL's All-Star Charity Challenge to raise money for typhoon relief effort in the Philippines. Filipino stars Dennis Orcollo and Carlo Biado join the New York Pride’s Warren Kiamco and will face Hohmann, Darren Appleton, and John Morra in an exhibition match of Bonus Ball. Pay-per-view proceeds from the match will be donated by the WPBL to the relief fund through the Rising Asian Pacific Americans Coalition for Diversity (501c3) in Las Vegas.
ESPN3 has live coverage of the remaining three playoff matches, however subscribers to the entire WPBL playoff package will still receive all archived matches from the tournament.
To purchase the WPBL All Star Charity Billiards Challenge or the entire Championship Package, please visit www.WPBLtv.com. Follow the WPBL as the playoffs continue, additional announcements and updates will be made frequently. For a complete listing of broadcast matches, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website.
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