Brian Deska turned in a dominating performance during his undefeated run through a field of 79 entrants, on hand for the April 12-13 stop on the Action Pool Tour. Deska finished with a 36-9 overall record (80%), and didn't give up a rack in either of his first two matches. The event, the fourth of the Action Pool Tour season, was hosted by the First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA.

 

Once past shutouts over Scarlett Forsman and Will Moon, Deska loosened up a bit to give up a total of four racks, combined, to Steve Fleming and Tom Zippler, which put him into a winners' side semifinal against Matt Krah, who had also been skimpy in winning 24 of the 32 games he'd played (against George Hammerbacher, Steve Luskey, TJ Moore and Shaun Wilkie).

 

Rick Glassock and Paul Oh squared off in the other winners' side semifinal; Glasscock coming in on the heels of three straight double hill fights (against Brian Dietzenbach, Shanna Lewis and Steve Wigglesworth) and a single shutout over Rafael Reyes, which put him among the final four winners with a 24-15 record. Oh was the only one of the four who'd not received a bye in the opening round, and joined the final four winners with a 30-12 overall record against five opponents; (in order) Leo McDaniel, Matt LeMire, Matthew Siple, David Zecena and Kim Whiteman.

 

Deska's toughest match all weekend was against Krah, whom he sent to the losers' bracket 6-3, while Glasscock was busy chalking up his second straight shutout, over Oh. In their first of two meetings, Deska defeated Glasscock 6-2 and waited in the hot seat for their second.

 

On the loss side, Krah moved over and picked up Rafael Reyes, who, after being shut out by Glasscock had defeated Alan Duty and Tuan Chau, both 5-3. Oh drew Paul Helms, who'd been sent to the losers' bracket by Kim Whitman and was in the midst of a five-match, loss-side run that would take him to the quarterfinals. Krah downed Reyes 5-1, as Helms was busy handing Oh his second straight shutout. 

 

Krah went one step further, defeating Helms in the quarterfinals 5-1, and then locking up in a double hill battle against Glasscock in the semifinals. Glasscock hung on to win it for a second chance against Deska. 

 

Deska would give up more racks (4) in the finals than he'd given up to any opponent all weekend, though given the fact that the final match was a race to 9, instead of 6, his winning percentage in the finals (69%) was an actual improvement over his toughest match; the 6-3 (66%) win over Krah in one of the winners' side semifinals.

 

The event victory movEd Deska up a notch in the Action Pool Tour rankings, from third to second place. Shaun Wilkie, who finished in the tie for 7th place, maintained his top ranking, while Dan Madden, who finished 45th, slipped into third place. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for May 10-11, will be held at Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.

Shaun Wilkie picked up his second straight 2014 win on the Action Pool Tour, with a come-from-the-loss side performance on the weekend of March 8-9. Sent to the losers' bracket in the second round of play by Mike Hagood, Wilkie won seven on the loss side and came back to defeat Hagood in the finals. The Bar Box Bash at Clubhouse Billiards in Lynchburg, VA drew 32 entrants.

 

With Wilkie out of the way, at least temporarily, Hagood moved on to survive a double hill match versus Doug Carter, and then, in a winners' side semifinal, shut out James Bilderback.  In the hot seat match, Hagood faced Jeremy Perkins, who'd just sent Steve Fleming west 6-4. Hagood and Perkins battled to double hill, before Hagood prevailed to sit in the hot seat, waiting on the fateful return of Wilkie.

 

Through seven, race-to-5 matches and 43 games on the loss side, Wilkie gave up a total of only eight racks. He gave up one each to his first and second loss-side opponents (Neel Samanta and Jason Trigo) before allowing Collin Hall to chalk up three against him. He then shut out two in a row; Jason Clay and then, coming over from the winners' side semifinal, James Bilderback. 

 

Steve Fleming, in the meantime, drew Matthew Siple, who'd gotten by Doug Carter 5-2 and Raymond Walters 5-4. Like Wilkie had done with Bilderback, Fleming shut out Siple. Wilkie then eliminated Fleming 5-2 in the quarterfinals, and gave up only one rack defeating Perkins in the semifinals. Wilkie had earned his re-match against Hagood in the finals. 

 

When they'd met in the second round, Hagood had prevailed 6-4, thus chalking up more racks against Wilkie than any other single opponent all weekend and more than Wilkie's first five loss-side opponents combined. He wasn't as fortunate the second time around. Wilkie came out fast in the finals, chalking up the last of six matches in which he'd given up a rack or less, and claiming the event title 8-1.