Cole Lewis
The last two times that Mike Clevinger competed on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (June and earlier this month), he went home a winner. He came to this past weekend’s stop on the tour in search of his third straight win, only to have those hopes dashed by one Cole Lewis, who came looking for and found his first win on the tour. The event was the 2nd Annual Brian James Memorial, held at Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN, which drew 70 entrants.
They met first in a winners’ side semifinal, as Jimmy Bird and Dalton Messer met up in the other one. Lewis took the first of their eventual three 7-3 and in the hot seat, faced Bird, who’d sent Messer to the loss side 7-2. Lewis claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Bird.
On the loss side, Clevinger drew Eric Roberts, who’d defeated Kyle Bailey 9-3 and Doug Schulz 9-4 to reach him. Chris Cowan had most recently gotten by junior player Garytt Elder (14) 5-1 and Ron Frank 5-6 (Frank racing to 8) to pick up Dalton Messer.
Clevinger and Messer downed Cowan and Roberts; Clevinger, 7-6 over Roberts (racing to 9) and Messer, 6-2 over Cowan. Clevinger put the hammer down in the subsequent quarterfinals, allowing Messer only a single rack. Jimmy Bird gave Clevinger a battle in the semifinals that followed. They fought to double hill, before Clevinger prevailed for a second and to win, necessary third shot at Lewis, waiting for him in the hot seat.
In a match that wouldn’t conclude until the early hours of Monday morning, Clevinger took advantage of some momentum to win the opening set 7-4. In the second set, they battled to double hill, before Lewis prevailed to claim his first title on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor title Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Diamond Brat, Federal Savings Bank’s Mortgage Division and AZBilliards. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend, July 31-Aug. 1, will be hosted by Still Cluckin’ in Providence, NC.
