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Stinson & Driver split top prizes on PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour

April 12th, 2024 | azhousepro | Uncategorized

Onyx Stinson and Dylon Driver began recording their exploits in the AZBilliard database this past weekend (Sat., April 6). Competing at a stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, the two finished ‘officially’ as the event winner (Stinson) and runner-up (Driver). In possession of the hot seat at the time they negotiated a split of the top two prizes, Stinson laid claim to his first cash finish and his first regional tour win.

Stinson and Driver allowed their double-hill hot seat match, won by Stinson, to stand as the defining match of the tournament. The $500-added event drew 42 entrants to Action Billiards in Inman, SC.

Stinson’s trip to the hot seat went through Bruce Cheatham 5-2 and Trent Wood 5-3, before he shut out Scott Green and drew Tommy Tran in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Driver, in the meantime, headed in the same direction with victories over Michael Burke 5-2, Dylan Barton 5-3, and Matt Lucas 5-2 to draw Andy Chung in the other winners’ side semifinal. 

Driver defeated Chung 5-3 and advanced to the hot seat match, joined by Stinson, who’d sent Tran off to the loss-side races by the same 5-3 score. Stinson and Driver played their double-hill hot seat match, which sent Driver off to the semifinals and, in effect, ended the day for Stinson.

On the loss side, Tran picked up a rematch versus tour veteran (winner) Billy Fowler, whom he’d defeated in the event’s second round. Fowler won four straight on the loss side, including a shutout over Richard Ferguson and a ‘leapfrog’ forfeit over Matt Lucas to face Tran a second time. Chung drew Brian Ervin, who’d also lost to Tran, double hill, in a winners’ side quarterfinal match and then eliminated Steven Ellis 5-3 and, double hill, Scott Green.

Tran defeated Fowler a second time 5-8 (Fowler racing to 10) and advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was met by Ervin, who’d extended his loss-side winning streak with a double-hill victory over Chung. 

Ervin took the quarterfinal match 5-2 over Tran to face Driver in what proved to be the event’s final match, the semifinals. Driver shut Ervin out and entered negotiations with Stinson to divvy up the top two prizes, which also gave Stinson his first recorded payout on a regional tour and his first win on a regional, albeit one with a ‘no-final-played’ asterisk.

Tour director Herman Parker thanked Scott and Lisa Green, along with their Action Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net (Randy Tate), TKO Custom Cues and Realty One Group results (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel (Angela Harlan-Parker), Federal Savings Bank (Alex Narod), CHC Underground (Chris Clary) and AZBilliards.

The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this coming weekend (April 13-14), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.

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Lowery comes back to double dip San Fillipo and win Viking Cues Q City 9-Ball Tour stop

July 9th, 2019 | azhousepro | Uncategorized

Mackie Lowery

Mackie Lowery’s come-from-the-loss-side win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour on the weekend of July 6-7 turned 2019 into his best earnings year, to date. He surpassed his previous best earnings year (2018) just a little over halfway through 2019, by chalking up his first win of the year. Lowery had to come back from a loss in the hot seat match and contend with a competitor, Barry Mashburn, who’d lost his opening match and proceeded to win 11 on the loss side to face Lowery in the semifinals. The $1,000-added event drew 66 entrants to Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards in Spartanburg, SC.
 
Lowery advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Justin Martin, while Tavis San Filippo squared off against Alex Escamilla in the other one. Lowery sent Martin to the loss side 7-6 (Martin racing to 10), as San Filippo downed Escamilla 5-1 to join him in the hot seat match. Lowery and San Filippo battled to double hill before San Filippo prevailed 5-6 (Lowery to 7).
 
On the loss side, as Escamilla and Martin arrived, Mashburn was nine matches into his loss-side winning streak, that had most recently included back-to-back, double hill wins over Scott Green 9-4 and Ricky Bingham 9-6. Mashburn drew Martin. Escamilla picked up Dalton Messer, who’d defeated Landon Hollingsworth and Steven Ellis, both 6-4, to reach him.
 
Mashburn recorded his third straight double hill win, sending Martin to the figurative ‘showers’ 9-9. Messer recorded his third straight 6-4 victory, sending Escamilla home and then, opted out of a quarterfinal match, which leapfrogged Mashburn into the semifinals against Lowery.
 
Lowery stopped Mashburn’s 11-match loss-side run with a 7-6 win in those semifinals (Mashburn racing to 9) and turned his attention to his re-match against San Filippo, waiting for him in the hot seat. With San Filippo racing to 5 and already ‘in the money’ for the first time on the tour, he and Lowery played two sets and a total of 17 games. Lowery won all but three of those games, giving up three in the opening set and none at all in the second set to claim the event title.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the Dayne Miller and his staff at Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (July 13-14), will be hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.