John Newton came back from a defeat in the hot seat match to defeat B.J. Ussery in the finals of the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour stop on the weekend of August 13-15. The $1,000-added event drew a short field of eight entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Wilmington, NC.
With but one win in the books, the winners' side final four were in place, with Ussery facing Jarvis Miller, and Newton versus Hindu Williams. Ussery and Newton advanced to the hot seat match with identical 7-5 victories over Miller and Williams, respectively. Ussery dominated the hot seat match 7-2 and awaited Newton's return from the semifinals.
Williams picked up Jeremy Snyder, who'd defeated pre-teen Gabe Grissom 7-3. Miller drew Milton Smith, who'd defeated Joe Nichols 7-3 to reach him. Williams and Miller advanced to the quarterfinals; Williams with a shutout versus Snyder and Miller with a 7-3 win over Smith. Miller then ended Williams' day with a 7-4 win that set him up to play Newton in the semifinals. Newton, anxious to get back to Ussery a second time, defeated Miller 7-4 and got his chance.
Newton and Ussery opened the race-to-11 finals with a marathon first game, in which tour director Doug Ennis recorded 17 safeties. Ussery finally got ball in hand to run out and take what would prove to be his only lead of the match. Newton came back and won five straight. Ussery got two of them back and they headed into the ninth rack with Newton ahead by two. They traded racks to 6-4, before Newton won three in a row to go ahead 9-4. Ussery got within a single game by winning four in a row, including a break and run on rack 15, but it was his last game win. Newton took the next game to reach the hill and in the final game, took a jump shot, shooting at the 4-ball, and was able to make a 4-8 combination. The 4-ball hung in a corner, giving him the opportunity he needed to finish the rack and an undefeated tournament bid at 11-8.
The event's Early Bird Tournament on Friday night, drew more entrants than the two-day main event. Emerging from the 12 players was Hindu Williams, who defeated Ussery 7-5 in the finals to take home the $130 first prize. Ussery pocketed $75 in second place and Terry Faulk took home $35 for his third place finish. A Sunday night Second Chance tournament drew four players, and was won by Lupe Hernandez in a 7-3 finals win over Tim “TBO” Johnson.
Falon Farleigh was declared the event's Ladies winner. Two Juniors played a best two-out-of-three race to five match, which was won by Gabe Grissom, winning two straight matches 5-1 against Ian Thackrah. Grissom won $40 for his efforts. Tim Fowler won $60 in the event's break contest and Lynn Aycock won the $600 Limited Edition Jacoby Cue in the event raffle. The Break and Run contest pool of money remained at $105.
