Gary Murgis, Pat DiBuono and Teddy Lubis
In 20 recorded attempts on the Tri-State Tour, dating back to January of 2009, Gary Murgia has never failed to be among the top 10 finishers. Since January of 2010, in seven attempts, he finished among the top five. On Saturday, January 22, for the first time since October of '09, Murgia broke through to a Tri-State victory, going undefeated among a field of 32 entrants, on-hand for the $502-added, B-D handicapped event, hosted by Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ.
Following victories over Soner Bulut, Antonio Navarro and Brian Cap, Murgia was among the winners' side final four, where he faced Peter Brennan. The other winners' side, final four matchup pitted Pat DiBuono against Serrafin Serrano. Murgia got into the hot seat match with a double hill win over Brennan, and was joined by DiBuono, who'd defeated Serrano 7-4. Murgia then secured his place in the event finals with a 7-3 win that left him in the hot seat, waiting for DiBuono's return.
Meanwhile, on the one-loss side, another Tri-State tour veteran, Teddy Lubis, was working his way to a showdown in the semifinals. After an opening round victory over Ken Debrowski, Lubis moved to the one-loss side to take six straight. With two victories behind him, Lubis defeated Scott Abramowitz 8-6 and Kyle Bubet 7-5 to meet Brennan. Serrano picked up Richard Ng, who'd defeated Brian Cap 7-6 and Tony Ignomirello 6-3 to reach him.
Lubis and Ng hooked up in the quarterfinals, after Lubis had defeated Brennan 7-2 and Ng had downed Serrano 7-4. Lubis completed his six-match winning streak with a double hill win over Ng that set him up to face DiBuono. DiBuono got a second chance against Murgia with a 7-3 win over Lubis in the semifinals.
Murgia took the first two racks in the opening set of the true double elimination finals. The two then traded racks to 4-2, before DiBuono won two straight to knot things at 4-4. Murgia won the next two racks to reach the hill first. DiBuono took the 11th rack, but Murgia took the 12th to secure the event victory.
Thanks were extended to Sandcastle Billiards owner, Ed Liddawi, and his staff, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Viking Cues, Ron Tarr Cues, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Dr. Dave Billiards Instructional Products.
