BJ Ussery
Both competitors had something to play for in what would likely have been an entertaining final match of the August 31-Sept. 1 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. BJ Ussery would have entered the match looking for his fourth win and his eighth finish among the top three in eight events on the 2019 tour (he’d record the win, albeit with an *). Scott Roberts would have entered the match looking for his first 2019 win on the tour and his first since he won four events on the tour in 2017. Roberts had a little extra incentive, having been defeated in the second round of play and winning seven on the loss side to face Ussery, waiting for him in the hot seat. For undisclosed reasons, they opted out of the final match, leaving Ussery as the event’s official winner. The $500-added event drew 28 entrants to Speak Eazy Billiards in Sanford, NC.
With Roberts at work on the loss side of the bracket, Ussery advanced to a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Barry Mashburn. Tony Wall faced Anthony Mabe in the other one.
Ussery got into the hot seat match with a 12-7 win over Mashburn. He was joined by Wall, who’d defeated Mabe 5-5 (Mabe racing to 7). Ussery subsequently gave up only a single rack to Wall and claimed the hot seat 12-1.
It was Mashburn who ran into Roberts on the loss side. Roberts, four matches into his seven-match, loss-side winning streak had chalked up victories #3 and #4 against Richard Lynch (8-1) and 14-year-old Joey Tate (8-3). Just prior to meeting Roberts, Joey Tate had eliminated his 12-year-old sister, Bethany, from the competition. Mabe drew Gary South, who’d defeated Justin Martin 7-4 and Travis Guerra 7-1 to reach him.
Roberts defeated Mashburn 8-7 (Mashburn racing to 9). He was joined in the quarterfinal match by Mabe, who’d given up only a single rack to South.
Roberts took that quarterfinal match 8-2 over Mabe, and then, in what turned out to be the last match of the weekend, defeated Wall in the semifinals 8-4. He and Ussery agreed to the split with Ussery claiming the official event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at SpeakEazy 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 (September 7-8), will be hosted by Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
