Shaun Wilkie proved that he can dominate multiple tours, as he took a break from his current six tournament winning streak on the Action Pool Tour, to win the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour's NE 9-Ball Open XXVIII at Golden Cue Billiards in Albany, NY on March 28th - 29th.
Wilkie made his way through the field of fifty three players and captured the hot-seat with a 9-4 win over Ron Casanzio.
Casanzio then fell to Yesid Garibello on the one loss side 9-6. Garibello was on a roll, after a second round loss to Rick Sleeper early on Saturday afternoon. Eight matches later, Garibello was gearing up to play Wilkie in the finals.
Just prior to the finals getting underway, the drawing was held to see who would win the $1200 Joss Custom Cue at this event. Sure enough, that winner would be Garibello. Wilkie must have thought the pool gods had it in for him as Garibello went on to win the first set of the double elimination finals 9-5. Wilkie finally cooled off Garibello and scored a 9-5 win of his own in the second set of the finals.
The second chance event on Sunday drew a field of thirty one players looking for their share of over $1000 in prize money. Bruce Carroll would earn the lion's share of that prize money with an undefeated run through the field. Carroll defeated Brent Boemmels 3-1 for the hot-seat, and then defeated Angelo Hilton 3-1 in the first set of the finals.
Joss NE 9-Ball Tour director Mike Zuglan mentioned that he still has spots open for August's Turning Stone Classic XXIV. Interested players should contact Zuglan as soon as possible.
