Nick Brucato won his own Western New York Tour on Saturday, November 26 by winning the second set of a true double elimination against Mark Hatch. The event drew a short field of seven entrants to Bison Billiards in Buffalo, NY.
Brucato picked up a Bye in the opening round and faced Dan Miusci among the winners' side final four. In the meantime, Adam Smith, who'd defeated Hatch 6-2 in the opening round of play, squared off against Roger Jackson. Brucato downed Miusci 6-4, as Smith was busy sending Jackson west 6-2. Brucato got into the hot seat with a 6-3 win over Smith and waited for the return of Hatch.
First up for Hatch on the loss-side was Dan Miusci's son, Jake, whom he shut out to move into the quarterfinals. Jackson picked up Fran Imburgia, who defeated him 4-2 to face Hatch. Hatch shut out Imburgia to earn a re-match against Smith in the semifinals. A 4-2 victory there gave him his shot against Brucato.
Hatch took full advantage in the race-to-6 opening set, defeating Brucato 6-4. In the shortened race-to-4 second set, though, Brucato battled to double hill before prevailing to capture the event title.
