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Turning Stone Classic XXXIV – Pat Fleming vs Greg Antonakos

Turning Stone Classic XXXII – – Hunter Lombardo vs Greg Antonakos

Hewitt over Sossei for win at Kevin Ketz Memorial

Jeremy Sossei, Trick Shot Billiards Owner Tim Berlin and Danny Hewitt

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour’s Kevin Ketz Memorial on March 9th and 10th at Trick Shot Billiards in Clifton Park, NY came down to Canadian Danny Hewitt and Jeremy Sossei, two players very familiar with what it takes to get to the Joss Tour winners circle.
 
Both players went through Saturday play undefeated and were joined on the winners side on Sunday by Bucky Souvanthong and Dave Grau. Hewitt sent Grau to the left side of the board 9-1, while Sossei had a much tougher time with Souvanthong, beating him 9-8. This led to the showdown for the hot-seat, where Hewitt won 9-4. 
 
After wins over Mark Creamer and Greg Antonakos on the one loss side, Souvanthong was ready for the rematch with Sossei. This match didn’t go much better for Souvanthong though, losing 7-5 to leave him in third place.
 
Sossei came out on fire in the first set of the finals against Hewitt, and raced to a dominating 9-0 win to force a second set. Hewitt turned the tables in the second set of the finals though and quickly took a 5-0 lead. Sossei fought back and was able to tie the score at hill-hill, but that was when Hewitt put the tournament away with the 7-6 win. 
 
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Tom Acciavatti go undefeated with wins over Spencer Auigbelle for the hot-seat and again in the first set of the finals. 
 
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour now takes the weekend of March 16th – 17th off, but will be back in action at Union Station Billiards in Portland Maine for a rare handicapped Joss Tour stop. 

Turning Stone Classic XXX Day One Complete

Petri Makkonen (Photo courtesy of Erwin Dionisio)

Day one at the Turning Stone Classic XXX is complete, with all 128 players having competed in one match. 

 

Different than past events, there were really no major upsets on day one of this event. The closest the fans came to seeing a first round upset was "Cue Picker" Greg Antonakos being tied with five time Turning Stone Champion Jayson Shaw at 7-7 early on Thursday. The upset was not meant to be though, as Shaw dug down and won the final two racks for the 9-7 win. As of the writing of this article, Shaw had already defeated Brandon Shuff on day two of the event. 

 

All of the other top players in the field advanced to Friday play undefeated, including returning champion Billy Thorpe, Shane Van Boening, Earl Strickland, Mika Immonen, Johnny Archer, Loree Jon Hasson and Finland's Petri Makkonen. Makkonen opened the eyes of some fans in attendance late Thursday night with his 9-0 win over Samoth Sam on the streaming table.

 

AzBilliards has online brackets and real time scoring for the duration of the event, and Upstate Al is streaming select matches on his Facebook page. Links to all of this coverage are available on our live page for the event.

Hewitt double dips Fernandez to win second consecutive Joss NE Tour stop

Canadian Danny Hewitt chalked up his second consecutive and third overall win on the current Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour with a come-from-the-loss-side win on the weekend of February 22-23. He defeated Ron Casanzio in the finals of the third stop on the tour, back in October, and two weeks ago, defeated Jeremy Sossei in the finals of the February 8-9 stop in Amsterdam, NY. Hewitt played three matches against Dave Fernandez, winning the last two to claim the $1,500-added event title that had drawn 43 entrants to Trick Shots Billiards and Sports Club in Clifton Park, NY. 
 
They met first in a heated battle to claim the hot seat. In the winners' side semifinals, Hewitt had sent Greg Antonakos to the losers' bracket 9-3, as Fernandez was busy sending Keith Lauer over 9-5. Fernandez prevailed in the double hill hot seat match, and waited for Hewitt to come back.
 
On the loss side, Antonakos met up with Jeff Smolen, who'd survived a double hill fight against Yesid Garibello and eliminated Matt Tetreault 9-5. Lauer drew Esbon Worden, who, after being sent to the loss side by Hewitt, had defeated Jed Jecen 9-8 and Angelo Hilton 9-4. Antonakos defeated Smolen 9-6, and in the quarterfinals, met Worden, who'd shut out Lauer.
 
Antonakos took the quarterfinal match 9-7, but was stopped by Hewitt in the semifinals 9-2. In all, Hewitt gave up only three racks in the two-set final; two in the opening to force the second set, and only one in the second set to claim his second consecutive Joss Northeast 9-Ball title.

Casanzio goes undefeated to take his second 2013 Joss Tour stop

Paul Enslin, Room Owner Tim Berlin and Ron Casanzio

Were it not for the intervention of one Nelson Oliveira, the finals of Stop # 2 on the 2013-2014 Joss Northeast Tour, held on the weekend of October 12-13, would have been a repeat of Stop #10 on the 2012-2013 tour back in March, pitting Ron Casanzio against Jason Michas. Casanzio defeated Michas in that earlier matchup, and defeated him in a winners' side semifinal in this event. Casanzio had to get by Paul Enslin twice to capture this event title. The $1,500-added main event drew 51 entrants to Sharpshooter's Billiards & Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY, while a Second Chance event, with an $800 total prize fund and won Marko Clarke, drew 15.

 
 As Casanzio was busy sending Michas west 9-2 in one of the winners' side semifinals, Enslin was at work against Sourith Thammavong in the other. Enslin sent Thammavong after Michas 9-6 to meet up with Casanzio in the hot seat match. Over 21 games in their two meetings, Casanzio gave up only three racks to Enslin; one of them in their first meeting, which left Casanzio in the hot seat.
 
Michas moved over and met up with Phil Davis, who'd gotten by Dave Shlemperis and Greg Antonakos, both 9-5. Thammavong ran into Oliveira, who, after being defeated by Michas among the winners' side final eight, had defeated Chance Chin 9-1 and Matt Tetreault 9-6. A quarterfinal re-match was set up when Oliveira shut out Thammavong and Michas downed Davis 9-7.
 
Oliveira ended Michas' hopes for a finals re-match against Casanzio with a 9-6 win in the quarterfinals, and had his own bid foiled by Enslin, 9-6 in the semifinals.  Casanzio completed his undefeated run with a 9-2 victory in the opening set of the true double elimination final.
 
Marko Clarke's victory in the Second Chance tournament went through Aaron Greenwood twice. He shut him out in the hot seat match. Greenwood came back from a 3-1 victory over Demian Provost in the semifinals and battled Clarke to double hill before Clarke prevailed to finish an undefeated day. 
 
Stop # 3 on the Joss Northeast Tour, a $1,500-added event with a $500-added Second Chance tournament, is scheduled for October 26-27 at Premium Billiards in Syracuse, NY.

Strickland Going Strong at Turning Stone

Earl Strickland

 

If anyone had been doubting the resurgence of Earl Strickland, the mighty Pearl has put the quit on those doubts this week at Turning Stone XXI. In his first three matches his opponents have scored a TOTAL of 3 racks against him. He is playing fast and deadly pool with the cue ball totally under his control and the shots just keep coming. His match last night was against a very strong Ron Cosanzio.
 
Cosanzio had shown his speed by defeating Mike Dechaine in the first round but against Strickland he was just a helpless spectator. Strickland put him down 9-2. Today Mr. Strickland faces a tough challenge when he faces Jason Klatt. Klatt has been displaying fine form (as usual) and has dispatched Larry Nevel and Randy Labonte to the left of the charts already this week, but Strickland Is a taller hill this week and the fans should be in for a great match when these two face off today.
 
One of the more dramatic races of the week happened Friday night when Karen Corr took down Dennis Hatch 9-8. The match was close throughout and had its tense moments as when Hatch requested, counter to the rules, a second bathroom break. Corr stood firm and refused the request and went on to win the match after Hatch came back from 8-6 down to tie things at 8-8.
 
Other names still alive with both bullets left include Chris Bartram, Jeremy Sossei, Martin Daigle, Greg Antonakos, Dave Fernandez and Brandon Shuff. Shuff defeated Karen Corr in the last round Friday night 9-3 so he is certainly one who bears close watching.
 
World number 1 player Thorsten Hohmann is moving undisturbed through the field. Like Strickland, no one has been a serious threat to his prowess and there are already murmurings of what will happen when he winds up facing Strickland. Both men are supremely confidant and this could be an historic match-up if and when it occurs.
 
Play continues today and you may find the Live Stream from Accu-Stats, brackets and live scoring HERE.

Casanzio wins Clifton Park Joss Tour Stop

Greg Antonakos, Trick Shots Owner Tim Berlin and Ron Casanzio

Ron Casanzio notched his second Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop win of the year at Trick Shots Billiards in Clifton Park, NY on the weekend of March 17th and 18th.

Casanzio made his way through the field of 35 players and took the hot-seat with a hill-hill win over Jeremy Sossei.

Sossei then dropped the semi-final match to Greg Antonakos 9-6. Antonakos had been undefeated all day Saturday, but lost to Casanzio midway through Sunday play.

The final match was true double elimination, and Casanzio would need both sets as he dropped the first set to Antonakos 9-6. Casanzio got things together in the second set of the finals and won 9-5 for first place in the event.

The second chance tournament on Sunday saw seventeen players battle it out. When the smoke cleared, it was Doug Wells holding off a late charge from Bruce Carroll to win the event.

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour is at Salt City Billiards in Syracuse, NY next weekend (March 24th – 25th).

Mike Zuglan is now taking entries for the season finale at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY on August 23 – 26. These always fill up and players are turned away. Get your entries in now to avoid missing out.

Open Event Payouts | Second Chance Payouts

Souvanthong remains atop Joss Tour Points List

A seventh place finish at the Ocean State 9-Ball Championship was enough to keep Bucky Souvanthong atop the Joss Tour Points List for yet another week.

Meanwhile, Mike Dechaine‘s runner up finish catapulted him from 11th place to second place on the list.

The top five is rounded out by Mike Zuglan, Chance Chin and Greg Antonakos.