 Tony Robles |
The Jack Colavita Memorial New Jersey 14.1 Straight Pool Championship was held over the past weekend (September 28th-30th) at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, New Jersey. The tournament was hosted by owners Bill and Marsha Haley and had a total of seventeen players working toward the prestigious title of champion. The impressive field included: Tony Robles, Ed Hodan, Bill Dunsmore, Danny Barouty, Steve Lillis, Mike Davis, Carmen Lombardo, Ed Deska, Bob Hayward, Thorsten Hohmann, Jonathan Smith, Bill Horne, Marty Ciccia, Bob Madenjian, Don Polo, and defending champion Tom Walter.
With a superb competitive event coming to an end on Sunday, there would be only two men that would work their way through the brackets into the final round - Tony Robles and Thorsten Hohmann.
Hohmann had already made his mark on the tournament by winning the award for being the individual with the first 100 ball run, but that was just the beginning. In a match only two rounds later against Jim Gottier, after both players took a couple of intentional fouls each and at a score of minus two a piece, Hohmann demanded control of the table and eventually staked out his position as having the high run of the tournament also – 152 balls.
Although the entire weekend was played as a race to 150, double elimination, the final was defined as a modified race. Meaning, if Robles was able to score 150 first, then the match would end at that time. If that did not occur and Hohmann scored 150 before him, it would be extended to a race to 200.
The finals ended up being a spectacular display of disciplined play. When Robles acquired a score of 137, he missed a shot and allowed Hohmann back to the table. Hohmann was then able to extend his score to 172 before ending. This was the opportunity that Tony Robles was hoping that he would have after missing his prior shot. At that point, with Hohmann so close to finishing out the match, Robles took absolute control of the table and ran 63 and out to win the event 200-172.
Special thanks to Bill and Marsha Haley of Comet Billiards for continuing the efforts of Jack Colavita to prolong such a magnificent event, and to the players and spectators for their ongoing support.
