On December 22, at a stop on the Western New York Tour, hosted by Outback Billiards in Elmira, NY, Angelo Inness played and won four matches to get into the hot seat. Tour director Nick Brucato played six, winning five on the loss side to challenge him in the finals. Brucato took the opening set of the double elimination final, but Inness came back to win the second and claim the event title.
Brucato was moved west in the opening round of play by Lanny Phillips (7-2), who moved on to face Dennis Cote among the winners' side final four. Inness, in the meantime, squared off against Shawn Myer (co-owner of Outback Billiards). Inness downed Myer 7-4, and in the battle for the hot seat, faced Cote, who'd sent Phillips west 6-4. Inness gave up only a single rack in the match against Cote, and sat in the hot seat, waiting on Brucato.
Brucato's path back to the finals began with a 7-3 win over Kyle Bova, who had won three of the tour's last four stops. Brucato moved on to defeat Joe Catalina and pick up Myer, coming over from the winners' side semifinals. Phillips drew Mike Wishwanick, who'd downed Brett S. 6-3 and Jesse Norton 6-4. Also eliminated in the matches deciding the tie for ninth place was Shawn Myers' father, Chuck, the other co-owner of Outback Billiards.
A quarterfinal re-match between Brucato and Phillips was arranged, once Brucato had eliminated the younger Myer 7-1, and Phillips had survived a double hill battle against Wishwanick. Brucato, who'd given up only seven racks over his last three matches, made it eight racks over his last four with a 7-1 victory that put him into the semifinals against Cote.
Brucato gave up two racks in a 7-2 win over Cote that gave him a shot against Inness in the finals. Brucato made it a loss of only nine racks in five games with a 7-1 victory in the opening set of those finals. Inness, though, turned the tables on him, giving up only a single rack in the second set to claim the event title.
The next stop on the Western New York Tour is scheduled for January 19 at Camelot Billiards in Rochester, NY.
