Mike Dechaine and Corey Deuel
Fans at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada were in for a treat on July 21st as the second of the scheduled challenge matches took place.The OB Challenge pitted Mike Dechaine and Corey Deuel against Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante in scotch doubles 8-ball.
The communication between players stemming from the scotch doubles format of the event led to all four players playing very loose and kidding both their partners and opponents throughout the event.
The loose attitude that all four players had early in the match might have led to less than top level play as the event got underway. Neither team was able to put together a break and run before the 8th rack, when the Filipino team already held a 5-2 lead. What should have been a dose of confidence for the Filipino duo turned out to be more of an "attention grabber" for Deuel and Dechaine. After watching the Filipino team run rack eight, the US team took control of the match and won four games to tie things at 6-6.
The US team wasn't done there though, as they would start stringing together racks to take a 10-6 lead. The only thing that looked to be able to stop the US team at this point was dry breaks. After running a rack or two, the US team would break dry and let the Filipinos into the match, but the Filipinos were not having luck on their break either.
The US squad extended their lead to six racks at 15-9, but Reyes & Bustamante made a push to get back within three racks at 15-12.
Team USA got back to business and pushed the lead back to five racks at 18-13 and the Philippine team's win in rack twenty two would be their final rack as the US players won the last three racks for the 21-14 victory.
Watch the rest of the CSI Invitationals and challenge matches live at www.playcsipool.com. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League. CSI also produces independent events such as the US Bar Table Championships, Jay Swanson Memorial, US Open One Pocket Championship, US Open 8-Ball Championship, US Open 10-Ball Championship, CSI Invitationals, and CSI Challenge Matches. Visitwww.playcsipool.com,www.playbca.com, andwww.playusapool.com for more information and visit the CueSports International YouTube channel for lots of great content.
