Keith Bennett
Two ‘old hands’ battled for the hot seat. Had it not been for a decision to split the top two prizes, one of those ‘old hands’ would have battled a (borderline) junior player in the finals. It was Keith Bennett and BJ Ussery who squared off in the winners’ side final of the Sept. 1-2 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. It was Bennett and 19-year-old Justin Martin, recently chosen as a member of the USA’s Atlantic Cup Challenge team, who would have met in the finals. Martin will be the oldest member of the team and the only one not to have claimed a BEF Junior Nationals title. When the decision to split the top two prizes was made, the undefeated Bennett was declared the official winner of the $500-added event that drew 46 entrants to Speakeazy Billiards in Sanford, NC.
All three of them competed in the winners’ side semifinal; Bennett against Martin, and Ussery versus Josh Shultz. Both matches went double hill before advancing Bennett and Ussery to the hot seat match; Bennett 11-9 over Martin, racing to 10, and Ussery 11-5 over Shultz, racing to 6. Bennett won what proved to be his final match 11-7 over Ussery to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Martin picked up Scott Roberts, who’d eliminated Chad Weachter 8-1 and Mike Mullins 8-3 to reach him. Shultz drew another ‘old hand,’ Larry Faulk, who’d advanced with a forfeit by Rashad Brooks and downed Zac Leonard 7-2.
Martin defeated Roberts 10-5 and in the quarterfinals, faced Shultz, who’d defeated Faulk 6-1. Martin then dominated that quarterfinal match, defeating Shultz 10-2. Ussery put up more of a fight in the semifinals, but Martin defeated him, as well, 10-7, to earn himself a re-match against Bennett, which, of course, never happened.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Speakeazy Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Sept. 8-9) will be Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
