Everton comes from the one-loss side to take Tri-State Tour stop

Paul Everton survived two critical hill-hill matches to come from the one-loss side and win the Tri-State Tour stop on Saturday, November 21. The $750-added, B-D handicapped event drew 28 entrants to Master Billiards in Queens.

After victories over Ronnie Cochachi, Duane Toney and Masatoshi Ebihara, Everton moved among the winners' side final four, where he ran into his eventual finals opponent, Justice Eagan. Eagan sent him west with a 7-4 win and then went on to gain the hot seat with a 7-6 win over Rene Villalobos, who'd just defeated Romeo Singh 6-5.

Everton picked up Ron Mason on the one-loss side, who'd moved past Patrick Meyers 6-2 and Trevor Heal 7-1. Singh met Emily Duddy, who'd defeated Cochachi  7-6 and Ebihara 7-4 to meet him. It was Everton and Duddy who faced off in the quarterfinals. Duddy, having defeated Singh 7-2, as Everton got by Mason in the first of his two critical double hill matchups. Everton advanced to the semifinals with a 7-3 win over Duddy and got his second chance against Eagan with a 7-4 victory over Villalobos.

Eagan and Everton traded opening racks in the race to 11 finals that followed, before Eagan took three in a row to make it 4-1. Over the next six racks, Everton would turn the tables; winning all six and taking his own three-rack lead. Eagan fought back to get within one at 7-6. The two traded racks to put Everton on the hill at 8-7. Eagan then tied it up to bring it down to the final rack, where a ball-in-hand combination on the 9-ball finished it in Everton's favor.

The Tri-State Tour's Todd Fleitman extended thanks to Matt Carter of Sterling Gaming for his “support of the tournament and the sport.”