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Wilkie comes back from semifinals to down Krah in finals of Labor Day 9-Ball Shootout

Shaun Wilkie

The last time Shaun Wilkie and Matt Krah met in the finals of an event was back in February during the VA State 10-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour (APT). They had met, as well, in the hot seat match of that tournament. Wilkie shut Krah out to grab the hot seat, and survived a double hill battle in the finals to complete his sixth straight win on the APT. At the 4th Annual Labor Weekend 9-Ball Shootout in Cambridge, MD, the two clashed in the hot seat match and finals again. This time, though, Krah survived a double hill hot seat match, only to have Wilkie come back from the semifinals to defeat him in the finals. The $500-added event drew 58 entrants to Great Slates Billiard Cafe in Cambridge.
 
Wilkie ended up playing 10 more games than Krah, 83 to Krah's 73, and prior to the finals, Krah had the better winning percentage – 72.4% over Wilkie's 70.5%. When it was over, those percentages had shifted (obviously). The addition of six game losses dropped Wilkie's percentage down by two points to 68.6%, but with the addition of nine losses, Krah's dropped by about seven points, down to 65.7%. Together, they recorded a total of five shutouts in 15 matches; two by Wilkie and three by Krah.
 
Wins over Will Johnson, Coen Bell, Steve Cahal, Jr. and Joe Stem put Wilkie in a winners' side semifinal against Kevin West. Krah had defeated Rick Winpigler, Brandon Welch, John Moody, Sr. (back-to-back shutouts), and Jason Kochenour to meet up with Josh Brothers in the other winners' side semifinal. Wilkie sent West west 7-4, while Krah was sending Brothers over 7-5. The hot seat battle went double hill, eventually sending Wilkie to the semifinals.
 
Over on the loss side, Joe Wright, having been sent there by Brothers in a winners' side quarterfinal, was working his way back to a re-match in the event quarterfinals. Wright got by  , TJ Moore and Kochenour, both 7-4, and picked up West. Brothers drew Rick Winpigler, who'd defeated Joe Stem and Danny Greene, both 7-5. Wright and Brothers advanced to their re-match; Wright 7-5 over West, and Brothers in a shutout over Greene.
 
Brothers downed Wright a second time in the quarterfinals, by the same score he'd chalked up on the winners' side 7-5. By that same score, Wilkie stopped Brothers' run in the semifinals. Wilkie then claimed the event title with the single race 9-6 victory in the finals.

Wilkie comes from the loss side to become first-ever, two-time winner of Bob Stocks Memorial

Shaun Wilkie

Currently held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour (APT), the Bob Stocks Memorial was originally an independent event, run by Sterling, VA's First Break Cafe. In the years since it began in 2006, it's crowned Adam Smith, Dennis Hatch, Ryan McCreesh, Mike Sigel, Mike Davis and Brian Deska as champions (the event was not held in 2013). On the weekend of October 4-5, the event crowned its first-ever, two-time champion, Shaun Wilkie, who won it in its independent days in 2008, three years before the APT took over in 2011. This year's event drew 65 entrants to First Break Cafe.
 
Wilkie's victory moved him to the top of APT's current rankings, ahead of Brian Deska, who finished in the two-way tie for fifth place. They're separated by a mere 127 points, with two events to go in the APT season. 
 
Wilkie had to win five on the loss side to chalk this one up. He was defeated by Dan Madden 7-3 in a winners' side quarterfinal. Madden moved on to face Danny Mastermaker in one winners' side semifinal, as Deska and Brandon Shuff met up in the other (of note at this juncture was Deska's just-completed, 7-2 victory over Karen Corr). Shuff sent Deska to the loss side 7-4, and in the hot seat match, met up with Mastermaker, who'd given up only a single rack to Madden. Shuff just did get by Mastermaker 7-6 to claim the hot seat, and, unbeknowst to him, chalk up his last victory.
 
Deska moved over and picked up Wilkie, who'd started his march back to the finals with a double hill win over Jimmy Varias and a subsequent victory over Steve Fleming 7-4. Madden drew Karen Corr, who'd gotten by Jason Kochenour 6-2 and Will Moon 6-1. Madden dropped Corr into the tie for fifth place 6-2. No one could have predicted that the battle between the tour's top two ranked players would end up in a shutout, but it did; Wilkie advanced, leaving Deska in the tie for fifth with Corr.
 
Wilkie now had his second shot against Madden, and took advantage of the opportunity, defeating him 6-2 to draw Mastermaker in the semifinals. Another double hill match ensued, which eventually advanced Wilkie to a finals showdown against Shuff. With the final match extended to nine games, Wilkie and Shuff battled it back and forth to within a game of double hill. Wilkie, though, surged ahead by two at the end to take it 9-7.