Dechaine takes two from Deuel to win Empire State Championship

Mike Dechaine defeated Corey Deuel twice to win the Empire State Championship, a co-sponsored event of the Ozone Predator and Seminole Pro Tours on the weekend of Sept. 4-5.  The $6,500-added event, broadcast on Ustream, under the production auspices of Ray “Big Truck” Hansen and PoolActionTV, drew 64 entrants to Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY.

Before Dechaine faced Deuel for the first time in the hot seat match, he had to take on Mike Sigel, who was in the midst of a 30-game winning streak, in which he had shut out four straight opponents – Ray Romanski, Mike Wong, Shaun Wilkie and Dustin Morris.  Playing among the winners' side final four, Sigel won the opening game against Dechaine, before his 30-game streak came to an end. The two went on to battle to double hill before Dechaine prevailed and moved into the hot seat match. Deuel, in the meantime, who'd given up an average of only 1.6 racks in the four victories that had put him among the winners' side final four, defeated Jeremy Sossei 8-6 to face Dechaine for the first time.  Dechaine got into the hot seat with an 8-6 win and waited for Deuel's return.

On the one-loss side, Josh Brothers, who'd been sent west by Dechaine 8-6 from among the winners' side final eight was making his way back. He got by Scott Freeman 8-4 and George “Ginky” Sansouci 8-5 to pick up Sossei. Sigel picked up Mike Davis, who, having moved west after the second round, won five straight, including double hill wins over Matt Krah and Dennis Hatch, and an 8-6 win over Tony Robles. It was Brothers and Davis moving into the quarterfinals, with identical 8-5 wins over Sossei and Sigel. Brothers defeated Davis 8-6 and was one match away from earning a re-match against Dechaine.   

Unfortunately for Brothers, it was Corey Deuel that stood between him and that re-match.  The two exchanged racks to a 4-4 tie, before Deuel  won three straight to reach the hill at 7-4. Brothers took the 12th rack, but Deuel  won (for him) the lucky 13th rack and moved back to take on Dechaine a second time.

Dechaine jumped out to an early 3-1 lead that he never relinquished. At that, Deuel's single game among the first four was the result of a 10-ball that rattled in a corner pocket on Dechaine's shot at it. In the fifth rack, it was a Deuel  ‘rattle' that gave Dechaine a 4-1 lead. Deuel won the sixth rack, and then Dechaine chalked up two in a row for a four-game lead at 6-2. Corey came back to win two of his own and reduce the lead back down to two at 6-4. Shooting the 11th rack, Deuel made his first ball on the break in the match, but Dechaine ending up winning it for a 7-4 lead. Dechaine reached the hill on the next rack, and then, in what proved to be the final game, used a 3-10 combination to finish the match and take home the Empire State Championship title.