Bucky Souvanthong, East Ridge Billiards Owner Chris Braiman, and Ron Casanzio
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off their 2021/2022 schedule with another $2000 added weekend at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester, NY where Ron Casanzio proved again why he is a danger to win any Joss Tour stop that he plays in.
After a first round bye, Casanzio found himself on the wrong side of a 9-7 match against Luis Recio. That left him facing a long uphill battle, and he took that battle on. Casanzio started his westward quest through the brackets with another close one, a hill-hill win over Rohit Aggarwal. From there, Casanzio went on a tear. He finished the day on Saturday with wins over Alex Alvarado, Hendrik Drost and Robert Czupryniak by a combined score of 21-7. That left him in the cash and due to come back on Sunday.
Casanzio picked things up on Sunday where he left off, with wins over Deo Alpojora, Chris Braiman and Aaron Greenwood to land him in the semi-final match.
Back on the winners side, Bucky Souvanthong was playing his usual top speed. Souvanthong came into Sunday as one of the final four undefeated players and ran over Chris Braiman (9-2) and Dave Driedel (9-3) to take the hot-seat.
Casanzio made quick work of Dreidel in the semi-finals 7-2, to earn his shot at Souvanthong in the double elimination final match.
The first set of the finals was a competitive 9-6 win for Casanzio, but Souvanthong looked to have things under control in the second set. Souvanthong was on the hill at 6-4 when a routine 9-ball missed the pocket to give Casanzio a second chance. That was all that Casanzio needed as he won three straight racks for the hill-hill win and another Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Stop win on his resume.
Sunday’s second chance event saw sixteen players competing for over $800 in prize money. Bruce Carroll went undefeated with wins over Rohit Aggarwal for the hot-seat and again in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action this weekend at Brickhouse Billiards in N. Syracuse, NY.
