Collins double dips Thompkins to take GSBT stop in Myrtle Beach

Shannon Daulton, Matt Collins and Wendell Thompkins
Matt Collins had gotten as close as third in his attempts to win a stop on the Great Southern Billiard Tour. Returning to the site of that third-place, April 2014 finish, Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC, Collins took a short, loss-side route to the winners' circle; losing the hot seat match, and returning from the semifinals to double dip hot seat occupant, Wendell Thompkins, a veteran GSBT competitor with a few victory notches on his GSBT belt. The $600-added event drew 27 entrants to Shore Thing Billiards on the weekend of September 5-6.
 
Collins earned his spot in the hot seat match with a 6-4 win over Scott Crane. Thompkins had defeated B.J. Hucks 8-4 to join him. Thompkins claimed the hot seat 8-4, and waited on Collins' fateful return.
 
On the loss side, Hucks drew David Tootle, who'd defeated Phillip Britt 6-6 (Britt, racing to 9) and Tony DeGuzman 6-2, to reach him. Crane picked up Gatlin Askins, who'd eliminated Zach Baker 8-2 and Melody Duval 8-1. With Askins racing to 8, Crane defeated him 5-7, as Tootle downed Hucks 6-4.
 
Crane then came out on the right side of a double hill quarterfinal against Tootle. He came out on the wrong side of subsequent double hill semifinal versus Collins, who got a second shot at Thompkins in the hot seat. Collins locked up in his second straight double hill match and won it to force a second set. They came within a game of another double hill match, but with Thompkins racing to 8, Collins completed his first GSBT victory with a 6-6 win in the second set.
 
The next stop on the GSBT, a $1,000-added event (with 40 or more entrants; $1,500 with 60 or more), scheduled for the weekend of September 19-20, will be hosted by Michael's Billiards, in Fairfield, OH. Sign-ups and practice are scheduled for noon on Saturday, with match play commencing at 2 p.m.