Though challenged by Junior Sanchez, who won five on the loss side to face him in the finals, Brian Russell hung on to go undefeated in the Amateur event of the Predator Tour stop on the weekend of February 11-12. The $500-added Amateur event drew 59 entrants to The Cue Bar in Bayside, NY.
From among the winners' side final four, Russell defeated Charles Young 7-5 to get into the hot seat match against Matthew Harricharan, who, from among the final eight winners, had sent Junior Sanchez west and then defeated Rafael Ortiz 7-2. Russell got into the hot seat with a 7-5 win over Harricharan, and awaited the return of Sanchez.
Sanchez began his five-match, loss-side journey with a 7-4 victory over Coco Davladze, followed up with a 7-5 win over Billy Santiago, and picked up Ortiz. Young drew Kelly Wong, who'd advanced past Ray Lee 7-4 and Meshak Daniel 7-2. Sanchez gave up only a single rack versus Ortiz and moved into the quarterfinals against Young, who'd downed Wong 7-4.
Sanchez then won two straight double hill battles; versus Young in the quarterfinals, and then, in a re-match, over Harricharan in the semifinals. Sanchez got into his third straight double hill match in the finals against Russell, but it was Russell prevailing to capture the event title.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked The Cue Bar owner, Sam An and his staff, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, The National Amateur Pool League, Delta-13 racks, Poison Cues, PoolOnTheNet.com, and NYCGrind.
