A field of 69 players invaded Snookers Cafe & Billiards in Providence, RI over the weekend for the 17th Ocean State 9-Ball Championship.
The final four players on the winners side were matched up with George San Souci facing Allen Hopkins and Joe Tucker taking on Mike Keith. The two matches couldn't have been more in contrast as Tucker dispatched Keith 9-2 on one table and San Souci outlasted Hopkins 9-8 on another.
This left Tucker and San Souci fighting for the hot-seat. The match turned out to be not much of a fight as San Souci cruised to a 9-0 win over Tucker.
On the one loss side, Hopkins had just eliminated last week's winner Danny Basavich and was looking for a rematch with San Souci in the finals. Hopkins knew he would first have to get by Tucker. The match between Hopkins and Tucker came down to hill-hill with both players having turns at the table in the final game. In the end, it was Hopkins taking control and scoring the 9-8 win.
The final match would be true double elimination with Hopkins needing to defeat San Souci twice to earn first place money. The first set of the finals started close and was tied at 3-3 before Hopkins won six of the next seven games for a 9-4 victory to force set #2.
Set #2 saw San Souci take an early lead, but he was unable to hold off Hopkins who came back to tie the match at 6-6. From there, San Souci won the next three games for the 9-6 victory.
San Souci earned $2500 in prize money, while Hopkins settled for $1800. Tucker and Basavich filled out the top four spots.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Cap's Cue Club in Syracuse, NY on February 11th - 12th and then at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY on February 16th - 19th for the $25,000 added Turning Stone Classic VI.
Complete Results:
1st George San Souci $2500
2nd Allen Hopkins $1800
3rd Joe Tucker $1400
4th Danny Basavich $1000
5th/6th Mike Keith, Gary Abood $800
7th/8th Mike Zuglan, Keith McCready $600
9th/12th Al Lapena, Dom Souza, Marc Vidal, Ray McNamara $400
13th/16th Jay Stevens, Jay McCaughey, Mike Dechaine, Ryan McCreesh $200
Photo courtesy of Mitch Heydt
