Final sixty four at Turning Stone

Earl Strickland

Day two is complete at the Turning Stone Classic XVI and the field has now been narrowed to just sixty four players who still have hopes of winning this event.

The winners side has seen the usual suspects cruising along relatively untested. Earl Strickland, Dennis Hatch, Rodney Morris, Shane Van Boening, Stevie Moore and Justin Bergman are all unbeaten and have not allowed an opponent more than four racks against them.

Gabe Owen, Johnny Archer, Mike Dechaine and Corey Deuel all remain on the right side of the board but that was not a slam dunk for any of them. Owen went hill-hill with Mike Davis, Archer went 9-7 with Thorsten Hohmann, Dechaine beat Shaun Wilkie in a close 9-6 match and Deuel held off a five rack comeback attempt from Charlie Williams on Friday. Deuel held a 7-1 lead in that match, but sat and watched Williams catch a gear and get back to 7-6 before Deuel won the match.

The one loss side still holds some formidable obstacles in the form of Williams, Manny Chau, Max Eberle, Thorsten Hohmann, Mike Davis, Jesse Engel, Shaun Wilkie and Karen Corr.

The field will play down to eight players on Saturday and a winner will be crowned on Sunday.

We have full coverage of this event including live streaming, online brackets and real time scoring at www.azbilliards.com/turningstonexvi