New England 9-Ball Series – Cote Takes Legends Open Event

Twenty-two of the strongest players came out to play on a cold Sunday afternoon October 14th at Legends Billiards in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a $750 added event and a $1000 custom cue that was up for grabs. Some of the event notables included Dave Fernandez, Roy Morgridge, Shane Cote, Rick Gata, Steve Therien, and Claton Rocha.

The quarter-final match-up included Tour Director Marc Dionne against Steve Therien. Dionne came out of the gates a little slow in this match and dropped the first three games. It did not look good for him initially, however, he was able to come back five straight games. Dionne played great and did not miss a ball until the score hit 6-3, which is when he missed an easy seven ball and the score became 6-4. That was as close as Dionne would let Therien get as he then continued to run out the next rack for the 7-4 victory.

The hot-seat match pitted red hot Shane Cote and Marc Dionne together. This match was extremely difficult for Dionne since he had not played in a tournament similar to this in over a year. Cote had more experience than Dionne as of late. The match was close for the first eight games and at the score of 4-4, Cote pulled away for the 7-4 win and his to gain his spot in the final round.

On the one-loss side, Marc Dionne and Dave Fernandez ran into each other. The set was also very close for the first few games but it would be Fernadez that would break free and win the set 7-4 to have his shot at Shane Cote, leaving Dionne to settle for third place and $150 in winnings and a spot into the Robert Dionne Memorial Tournament.

The final round saw Shane Cote and Dave Fernandez match up - this set was similar to a horse race as it went game for game until the thirteenth rack. With the score at 6-6, Fernandez knew he had to defeat Cote twice to win the event. Unfortunately for Fernandez, in the last game of the first set, he made a critical shooting error and Cote capitalized to win the game and take the 7-6 win. In addition to the money win, Cote also won a $1000 cue to add to his arsenal.