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Owens and Leonard split top prizes on Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Frank Owens

In terms of attendance, the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop on the weekend of April 14-15, was likely affected by the concurrent Super Billiards Expo (SBE) in Philadelphia. Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC is about eight hours away from the SBE site, which drew over a thousand entrants to its Amateur tournament, many of them residing within an eight-hour travel distance. The winner of the SBE’s Pro Player Championships (Mike Dechaine) drove six hours to compete. The $250-added Q City 9-Ball stop drew 21 entrants and came to an end when Frank Owens and Zach Leonard opted out of a final match, which would have been their second, and split the top two prizes.
 
They met first in the hot seat match. Owens had sent Matt Lucas to the loss side, double hill, in one winners’ side semifinal, while Leonard downed Richard Limo 7-3 in the other one. With Leonard racing to 7, Owens claimed the hot seat 5-4.
 
On the loss side, Lucas and Limo ran right into their second straight loss. Lucas picked up Jack Whitfield, who’d shutout C.B. Brown, and defeated Cody Jones 7-4 to reach him. Limo had the misfortune of meeting up with the tour’s most prolific winner, J.T. Ringgold, who, after being awarded an opening round bye, had dropped his first match to Bill Duggan, and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d gotten by Chris Gentile 10-5 and shut out Wayne Miller to draw Limo.
 
Ringgold downed Limo 10-4, and in the quarterfinals, faced Whitfield, who’d defeated Lucas 7-2. Ringgold then ended Whitfield’s run 10-3, before coming up against Leonard in the semifinals. With Ringgold racing to 10, he and Leonard fought back and forth to double hill (6-9), before Leonard dropped the deciding 9-ball to earn a second shot against Owens.
 
That second shot did not materialize. Owens and Leonard opted out of the final match, with Owens, in the hot seat, claiming the official event title.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for April 21-22, will be hosted by Gate City Billiards Club, in Greensboro, NC.

Bryant double dips Reece to grab Q City 9-Ball title

Brian Bryant

Brian Bryant came back from a loss in a winners’ side semifinal to successfully defeat the opponent that had sent him to the loss side, and then, double dip hot seat occupant, Avery Reece, to win the February 10-11 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The event drew 46 entrants to Brass Tap in Raleigh, NC.
 
The event results hinged (more or less) on the battle for the hot seat, which determined whether Bryant would face an equal strength opponent, who’d already defeated him once, or a lower-strength opponent in the double elimination finals. Bryant was sent to the loss side by fellow “8” competitor, Jason Rogers 8-3 in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Reece, in the meantime, racing to 6, sent Anthony Mabe west 6-4 in the other one. Reece and Rogers battled to double hill for the hot seat, with Reece winning it 6-7 and Rogers moving over to the loss side for a re-match against Bryant in the semifinals.
 
On the loss side, Bryant ran into Scott Roberts (another player racing to 8), who’d defeated Lee O’Neal and J.R. Post, both 8-4 to reach him. Mabe picked up Cameron Lawhorne, who’d eliminated Cody Jones 5-1 and Jesse White 5-2.
 
Bryant downed Roberts 8-4, as Mabe just did defeat Lawhorne, double hill. Bryant took the double hill quarterfinal match over Mabe 8-6.
 
Bryant turned to his semifinal re-match against Rogers; in effect, thanks to the hot seat result, having to face an equal strength opponent only once (albeit, an opponent who’d defeated him previously), before facing a lower-strength opponent twice in the double elimination finals. Bryant defeated Rogers 8-5 in those semifinals and then, double-dipped Reece – 8-3, 8-2 – in the finals to claim the event title.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brass Tap, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of February 17-18, will be hosted by The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.

Lilly wins second Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball stop in a row

Don Lilly

When you get a wily veteran into the hot seat of a handicapped tournament, it’s hard to envision him (or sometimes, her) relinquishing it by losing two in a row in a double elimination final. That, however, is exactly what happened during the February 3-4 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Mark Tademy, who’s been around long enough (and more) to have been a part of the ‘noble experiment’ known as the International Pool Tour (IPT) just over a dozen years ago, joined a roster of 42 entrants at the Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC, and advanced through the field to the hot seat. In the double elimination finals, however, he ran into Don Lilly, winner of the January 27-28 stop on the tour (and something of a wily veteran himself), who’d been sent to the loss side in the event’s third round and battled through seven, loss-side matches to reach the finals, double-dip Tademy and claim the event title.
 
Lilly, it should be noted, ended up in more or less the same position, as his finals opponent in the January 27-28 stop; Jason Rogers won nine on the loss side to face Lilly in the finals of that one, only to be defeated in the opening set of the true double elimination final. With Lilly at work on the loss side, Tademy (racing to 10 throughout the tournament) faced Dalton Messer in one winners’ side semifinal, as Alex Valencia squared off against Steve Reece (the tour’s 2017 Tour Champion) in the other one.
 
Tademy downed Messer 10-4 (double hill), as Valencia sent Reece to the loss side 6-4. Tademy gave up only a single rack to Valencia in the hot seat match, and appeared poised to chalk up an undefeated run.
 
With two notches on his loss-side belt, Lilly defeated Zac Leonard 6-2, and NYC-area visitor, Oscar Bonilla 6-6 (Bonilla, like Tademy, racing to 10). This set Lilly up to face Reece. Messer drew Steve Hughes, who’d sent Lilly to the loss side, and after joining him, defeated Shyne Barnes and Cody Jones, both 7-3.
 
Lilly and Hughes advanced to a re-match in the quarterfinals; Lilly, 6-1 over Reece and Hughes, 7-3 over Messer. Lilly successfully wreaked vengeance on Hughes in those quarterfinals against Hughes, defeating him 6-2 and advancing to face Valencia in the semifinals. A double match ensued there, eventually advancing Lilly to the finals against Tademy.
 
The opening set of the true double elimination final came within a game of double hill, but Lilly closed it out at 6-8 and they moved to the second set. Tademy failed to chalk up a single rack in the second set, and according to tour director Herman Parker, was reluctant, at first, to claim his runner-up prize money. He did, eventually, as did Lilly, who claimed his second Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball title in a row.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at the Gate City Billiards Club, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of February 10-11, will be hosted by Brass Tap in Raleigh, NC.