Nick ‘Nikon’ De Leon reminded all of the fans in attendance at the Desert Classic Tour’s 2013 Season opener that he is still one of the top young gun’s in the Arizona pool scene.
De Leon matched Mitch Ellerman match for match through the field of thirty seven players at Skip & Jan’s in Mesa on Saturday. De leon and Ellerman started Sunday play as two of the four players left without a loss. They kept those records alive as De Leon defeated Chuck Evans 8-4 and Ellerman skunked Dennis Orender 10-0. Ellerman kept up his hot play in the hot-seat match as he defeated De Leon 10-3, sending DeLeon to regroup on the left side of the board.
Sunday matches on the one loss side saw Bobby Emmons defeat Paul Grande 10-6 and Gus Briseno eliminate Ken Gouso 10-1, leaving Grande and Gouso in 7th place.
Emmons then eliminated Evans 10-3, while Orender outlasted Briseno in a close 8-6 match.
The match for 4th place was a rematch of the finals from the 2012 Season Finale and Emmons made sure there would be no Orender comeback on this day. Emmons won the match 10-6, sending Orender back to the tournament director;s chair in 4th place.
The final three players - Ellerman, De Leon and Emmons - are easily the top three young guns in the valley, and they always put on a show at the table.
Emmons held a 6-4 lead over De Leon before De Leon came back to tie the score at 6-6. Emmons pushed back ahead to reach the hill at 9-6, but De Leon clawed back and joined Emmons on the hill at 9-8 (10-9 race). De Leon ended the match quickly with a 1-9 carom in the case game to earn a rematch against Ellerman in the finals.
The finals would see De Leon trying to defeat Ellerman twice in 10-8 races. It looked like another lopsided match in the first set as Ellerman raced to a 4-1 lead. He extended that lead to 7-3 and was ready to take the hill at 8-4 but scratched on the 9-ball. With a new lease on life at the table, De Leon took control and ran the next two racks for an 8-7 scoreline. De Leon would win the next rack to force a second set.
The second set was a completely different affair with De Leon taking an early 3-1 lead and holding that lead for the majority of the match. De Leon took the hill at 7-4 and went on to win the next game for the 8-4 win and over $900 in prize money.
The Desert Classic Tour’s next event will be bar table 10-ball at River City in Phoenix on February 9th - 10th.
