The second round of the Diamond 10 Ball Challenge got underway at 9 pm on Wednesday evening as the second half of the 16 man bracket started battle on the four 10 ft Diamond tables set up in the pro arena.
There were several upsets by the end of the night, and it should be noted that there was standing room only around the group of four tables, as they witnessed some great matches.
DARREN APPLETON V ALEX PAGULAYAN
This match was almost two hours late starting, while they waited for Darren to finish his One Pocket match with Sylver Ochoa, which took four hours before Darren came out the winner. The long one pocket match took it's toll on Darren and he appeared to run out of gas as he transitioned to 10-ball.
From an early score of 4-2 to Alex, he forged ahead to a final score of 15-5.
Darren said he just could not summon the energy to put up a fight, which is clearly reflected in the final score.
ROBB SAEZ V JEREMY JONES
This match was nip and tuck up to 6-6, but from this point Jeremy stormed ahead to win nine more games to Robb's 2 games, closing the match out at 15-8 in Jeremy's favor.
EARL STRICKLAND V SHANE VAN BOENING
This is the match that attracted the most spectators, and they were certainly not disappointed as the score not only stayed close with Shane just ahead up until Earl leveled the match at 12-12 only for Shane to go ahead again to get it to 14-12. Earl caught another gear at this point and won the next three games to take the win at 15-14.
This win was a bit of a shocker if one goes by Shane's ranking position, but most of the pool aficionados thought that Earl, who is always talking about the use of the 10 ft tables as the only way to go, were not surprised by his stella play that unseated the favorite on paper, Mr. Van Boening.
LANDON SHUFFETT V JOHN MORRA
Landon, only two weeks removed from winning the US Junior Title for 18 year olds, uses the PRO-ONE AIMING SYSTEM, and credits it as the key to his success.
In this match Landon put on a clinic that would not be surpassed by any of the other players in this eight man group.
Young gun Mr. Shuffett soon had the score line to 8-1 in his favor, until John managed to win a few more games putting the score at 9-5 to Landon. At this juncture Landon just pilled on the pressure taking all of the remaining games until he closed it out at 15-5.
I cannot emphasize just how good this young man plays. He ran out rack after rack and missed two shots and lost whitey off the table once. I am waiting with baited breath for the outcome of his match tomorrow against the “Mighty Earl”
From this 16 man Invitational 10 ball Challenge we now have eight players left for Thursday evenings four matches. They are:
CHARLIE BRYANT V JOHNNY ARCHER
DENNIS ORCOLO V PHIL BURFORD
ALEX PAGULAYAN V JEREMY JONES
EARL STRICKLAND V LANDON SHUFFETT
We will bring you more coverage tomorrow on both the 10 Ball Challenge Match and the One Pocket results.
