Michael Mathieu and Kevin Brule played three times to determine the winner of the February 17 stop (#16) on the New England 9-Ball Series. In each of the three matches, the winner gave up only a single rack. Mathieu won two of the three, including the critical second set of a true double elimination final to claim the event title. The $500-added event drew 47 entrants to Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.

 

They met first in the hot seat match. Mathieu had defeated fellow B player, Ryan Urso 6-2, as Brule was downing fellow C Player, Joann Cobbett, in a match that went double hill. Mathieu gave up the single rack to Brule in this first encounter and sat in the hot seat, waiting for rounds two and three.

 

On the loss side, Urso picked up Ali Raza, who’d defeated Mike Langley, double hill, and Ryan McQuade 6-2 to reach him. Cobbett drew Marc Murphy, who’d eliminated Ed Murray, double hill and Darryl Helm, 5-1. In a straight-up race to 6, Raza advanced to the quarterfinals over Urso 6-2. By the same score, Cobbett (racing to 6) downed Murphy (racing to 5) 6-2.

 

Raza then eliminated Cobbett 6-3 in those quarterfinals. Raza then had his loss-side streak ended by Brule in the semifinals, in a match that went double hill.

 

With Mathieu (B) racing to 6, and Brule (C+) racing to 5, Brule took the double elimination final’s opening set, giving up a single rack. Mathieu returned the favor in the second set, giving up a single rack in a 6-1 win that earned him the event title.

 

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Yale Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#17), scheduled for February 24, will be the $500-added Joe Brown Memorial Tournament, hosted by Buster’s Billiards in Somersworth, NH.

One day after Rachel Lang went undefeated to claim a Tri-State Tour title in New Jersey (Sat., March 4), Candy Whalen chalked one up in New Hampshire with the New England 9-Ball Series. In the end, Whalen's victory (playing as a C-) came at the expense of (B player) Dennis Daniels, who had two shots at her in the hot seat match and finals, and fell short by the same score, both times. The $500-added Joe Brown Memorial event, drew 48 entrants to Buster's Billiards in Somersworth, NH.

 

In a straight-up race to 3 against fellow C- player, Randy Gilbert, Whalen survived a double hill fight in a winners' side semifinal to get into the hot seat match. She was met by Daniels, who'd defeated Dave Marcus, also double hill, in the other winners' side semifinal. With Daniels racing to 8, Whalen claimed the hot seat 4-6 and waited for him to get back from the event semifinals.

 

On the loss side, Gilbert picked up Marc Murphy (C-), who'd gotten by Roger Bowley 4-2 and Dorothy Gauvin 5-2, which, with Gauvin racing to 3, was double hill. Marcus drew fellow C+ player Josh Edmonds, who'd shut out Robert Whalen (playing as a B-), and given up only a single rack to another B-, Martin Flagg.

 

Gilbert downed Murphy 3-1, and was met in the quarterfinals by Edmonds, who, in a straight-up race to 4, had eliminated Marcus 4-1. With Edmonds racing to 5 in those quarterfinals, it was Gilbert who advanced to the semifinals with a 3-3 win. 

 

Daniels ended Gilbert's run with a decisive 7-1 victory in the semifinals and got a second chance against Whalen. Whalen, though, repeated her hot seat performance against Gilbert, claiming the event title with a second 4-6 win.

 

Tour director Marc Dionne, who was inducted into the New England Pool & Billiards Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Rhode Island on the Friday before this event, thanked the ownership and staff at Buster's Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AzBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta-13 Racks, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America.  The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for the weekend of March 25-26, will be the $2,000-added Players Championship, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.