Mike Davis and Anthony Meglino
Say what you will about the game of One Pocket. Though generally played as races to three, the games, matches and tournaments do have a way of dragging on. It’s the attraction for many; the strategizing, the careful shot selections, the combination of skill and tactics, which stretch a single game out into something of an ordeal. For others (spectators included), it can be agonizing, and way too time consuming.
On the weekend of March 17-18, the AllOutPool Tour held its second stop; a $625-added One Pocket event, which, in spite of competition from the Scotty Townsend Memorial, some 10 hours due west in West Monroe, LA, drew 20 entrants to Park Avenue Billiards in Orange Park, FL. Many of the 20 players drove distances that exceeded match times; from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and South Florida, some of them.
By the time Mike Davis had wrapped up his semifinal match against Brian White at around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, his potential opponent in the finals, hot seat occupant Anthony Meglino, had been on the road, headed home, for about five hours. He’d agreed to split the top prizes before he left, and as the undefeated competitor, Meglino went into the books as the winner.
Meglino made it through five rounds. He won a preliminary round against Jimmy Hightower 3-0, then downed Jay Widerman 3-1, and Bobby Garza 3-0, to draw David Grossman in a winners’ side semifinal. Davis, in the meantime, had gotten by Chuck Loeffler 3-1, William Carver 3-1 and Clint Nichols 3-0 to pick up tour director Peter Ghostine.
Davis defeated Ghostine 3-0, while Meglino sent Grossman to the loss side 3-1, setting up the hot seat match that would, in effect, define the event. Of the 19 winners’ side matches, it was only the second that went double hill (Ghostine had downed Randy Flakes, double hill, in a preliminary round). Meglino won it to claim the hot seat, in what proved to be his last match.
On the loss side, Grossman picked up Clint Nichols, who, following his defeat at the hands of Davis, had defeated Randy Flakes 3-0, and Stu Fox 3-1, to draw Grossman. Ghostine drew Brian White, who’d been defeated on the winners’ side by Grossman, and on the loss side, downed Jesse Kent 3-0 and Bobby Garza, double hill (one of six, double hill matches out of 18 on that side of the bracket).
White battled Ghostine to double hill before advancing to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Nichols, who’d eliminated Grossman 3-1. White came out on top in his second straight double hill win, versus Nichols, in the quarterfinals. Davis defeated White 3-1 in the ensuing semifinals, and it was over.
Tour director Peter Ghostine thanked the ownership and staff at Park Avenue Billiards for their hospitality. He took time, as well, to extend thanks to all 20 of the players, who traveled the distance that they did, and played for the hours that they did to compete.
