Ryan Stone and Shannon Murphey went undefeated through the 9-Ball and 8-Ball divisions of the Great Southern Billiard Tour Championships, which began on Wednesday, September 26 and finished up on Sunday night, September 30. Stone went through a field of 55 entrants, on hand for the 9-ball division, and finished third in the 45-entrant, 8-ball competition. Murphey worked his way through the 8-ball field to win it and finished in the tie for seventh place in the 9-ball event.
Events got underway at Michael's Billiards & Games in Fairfield, OH, with a mini bank pool event on Wednesday night, which was followed, on Thursday night, by the start of competition in the 8-Ball division. Friday night's activities featured a 10-ball, bank pool ring game with tour director Shannon Daulton, Shannon Murphey, John Brumback, Jason Miller, Truman Hogue, Danny Smith and Clay Carman. Played on new 5 X 10 Diamond tables, the event came down to Brumback and Daulton, with Brumback eventually earning the lion's share of the money.
In the 8-ball division proceedings, Murphey advanced to the winners' side final four to meet up with Chris Bosse, as his eventual hot seat match opponent, T.J. Back, squared off against Carl Burnette. Murphey shut Bosse out, while Back sent Burnette west 5-3. Murphey got into the hot seat with a 7-4 win over Back and waited for him to get back.
On the loss side, Bosse would fall 7-2 to Ryan Stone, who'd go on to win the 9-Ball division, while Burnette downed Billy Thorpe 5-4. Stone won the quarterfinal match that followed 7-2, but had his loss-side streak snapped by Back in the semifinals 5-5 (Stone racing to 7). Murphey took the finals against Back 7-4 to capture the 8-ball event title.
Stone's victory path in the 9-ball division went through Brandon Cook, Joey Hawkins, Brad Black and Brandon Hallett, to arrive among the winners' side final four and a matchup against Leo Kincannon. B.J. Ussery, in the meantime, a two-time winner on the GSBT, squared off against Mike Burnette. Stone moved into the hot seat match with an 11-6 victory over Kincannon, and was met by Burnette, who'd sent Ussery west 7-5. Stone sent Burnette to the semifinals with an 11-4 victory, and waited for what turned out to be the return of Ussery.
On the loss side, Kincannon was met by Billy Thorpe, another two-time winner on the GSBT, who'd gotten by Jake Cooper 9-2 and Shannon Murphey 9-7 to reach him. Ussery drew Jeremy Slye, who'd defeated Eric Durbin, double hill, and Brandon Hallett 7-2. Thorpe downed Kincannon 9-6, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Ussery, who'd shut out Slye.
The quarterfinal battle of the two, two-time winners on the 2012 tour was won by Ussery 11-7, who turned to face Burnette. Ussery gave up only a single rack in the semifinals versus Burnette that followed. Stone won the final battle against Ussery 11-8 to claim the event title.
1st Ryan Stone $1,500
2nd B.J. Ussery $1,000
3rd Mike Burnette $600
4th Billy Thorpe $400
5th Leo Kincannon $200
Jeremy Slye
7th Brandon Hallett $150
Shannon Murphey
9th Chris Lawson $75
Eric Durbin
Danny Smith
Jake Cooper
8-Ball
1st Shannon Murphey $1,000
2nd T.J. Back $600
3rd Ryan Stone $400
4th Carl Burnette $300
5th Chris Bosse $200
Billy Thorpe
7th Shawn Estes $150
Leo Kincannon
