Ed Culhane won seven straight from the west to meet and defeat Dave Ascolese in the finals of the Tri-State Tour stop on Saturday, June 4. The $500-added event drew 29 entrants to Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ.
After sending Culhane to the one-loss side, Dave Jusis eventually advanced to the winners' side final four to face Ascolese. Joining these two were Shawn Dobson and James Spinella. Ascolese sent Jusis west 7-3, as Dobson moved to join him in the hot seat match with a 7-4 victory over Spinella. Ascolese and Dobson battled to double hill before Ascolese prevailed to sit in the hot seat, awaiting Culhane.
Culhane, in the meantime, worked his way through four opponents, including Borana Andoni 7-5 and Ray Marisette 8-6, for a rematch against Jusis. Spinella picked up Bogie Uzdejczyk, who'd defeated Ricardo Mejia 7-4 and survived a double hill struggle against Arturo Reyes. Culhane exacted his revenge on Jusis 7-3, as Spinella downed Uzdejczyk 7-5.
Culhane chalked up his second straight 7-3 win in the quarterfinals against Spinella and went one better to defeat Dobson 7-2 in the semifinals. He repeated that score in the single set final against Ascolese, although as the one-loss side opponent, he was forced to add two more games to bring home the title. He did so to win his second 2011 Tri-State win at Castle Billiards, having won there in February.
Culhane comes from one-loss side to take Tri-State
June 7, 2011