The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop at Bison Billiards in Williamsville, NY on November 20 - 21 saw one competitor turn in a dominating performance to take the hot-seat and then win a close match against the same opponent again in the finals. It just wasn't the player that was expected in that situation.
As the field of 38 players made their way down to the final matches on Sunday, things were going as expected by most in the crowd as Dennis Hatch took advantage of playing in his home room and was sending opponents to the one loss side in quick fashion.
The match for the hot-seat was a 9-1 beating, but to the crowds surprise it was Hatch making the trip to the one loss side and Bucky Souvanthong laying down the beating this time.
Hatch sent Dean McNaughton home in 3rd place with a 9-6 score line, and got ready for what he hoped would be two matches in the true double elimination finals against Souvanthong.
The first match of the finals was a close one with neither player able to grab more than a one rack lead, but in the end it was Souvanthong eking out the 9-8 win to send Hatch home in second place; a position he is not familiar with.
In the Sunday second chance tournament, Willie Oney took the hotseat from Spencer Auigbelle 3-2 and then watched as Dan Kolacz eliminated Auigbelle on the one loss side. Kolacz had lost his first match of the day (to Mike Patrikios) and Auigbelle had been Kolacz's fifth victim of the day on the one loss side.
Kolacz continued his hot play by defeating Oney 3-0 in the first set of the double elimination finals. The second set went to hill-hill before Oney could pull out the win.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will not be back in action until the Turning Stone Classic XVI on December 16-19 at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, Ny. Inquiries regarding this event should be directed to Mike Zuglan at 518-356-7163.
