Powers Holds off Laney to win at Diamond Billiards Club

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News, Great Southern Billiard Tour

Powers Holds off Laney to win at Diamond Billiards Club
The Great Southern Billiard Tour / Chattanooga, TN

by Skip Maloney

Rock Powers held off Mike Laney in the finals of the Great Southern Billiard Tour stop at Diamonds Billiard Club in Chattanooga, TN.

Rick Powers withstood a strong challenge from the one-loss side by Mike Laney to take first place in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s amateur stop the weekend of September 27-28. The $2,000-added event drew 52 amateur pool players to Diamonds Billiard Club in Chattanooga.

Early Sunday, Powers and Daniel McKenney, on the winners’ side, sent Kendall Frazier and Josh O’Neal over to battle for fifth place and faced each other in the hot seat match. They battled to double-hill before Powers prevailed, sending McKenney to the semifinals.

Laney, in the meantime, was working from among the one-loss side’s final eight, defeating Darrell Stites and Gabe Appolos before facing O’Neal in the battle that determined fifth place. Dave Crockett was at work as well, moving past Jared McGee and Jarrett McPherson for his fifth-place struggle against Frazier. Crockett and Laney faced each other in the quarterfinals, won by Laney 8-4.

Laney completed his trip to the finals with an 8-6 victory over McKenney, only to be defeated by the same score in the finals against Powers.

Results:
1st Rick Powers
2nd Mike Laney
3rd Daniel McKenney
4th Dave Crockett
5/6th Josh O’Neal
5/6th Kendall Frazier
7/8th Jarret McPherson
7/8th Gabe Appolos
9/12th Jared McGee
9/12th Darrell Stites
9/12th Jeff Tabet
9/12th Jamey Hickman

Laney Wins Great Southern Billiard Tour Event

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Double-Hill Battles Spell Victory for Laney
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Marietta, GA

by Skip Maloney

Mike Laney saw his way through two hill-hill matches to win the Great Southern Billiard Tour event at the Marietta Billiard Club.

Mike Laney survived two double-hill battles in his final two matches to go undefeated in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s stop the weekend of September 20-21. The $2,000-added event drew 32 amateur billiard players to the Marietta Billiard Club in Marietta, GA.

Earlier in the day, Laney had joined Kevin Wright, Jared McGee, and Junior Farias among the winners’ side final four. In the first of their two match-ups, Laney sent Wright west with an 8-3 victory, and after McGee sent Farias over to join him 8-4, Laney and McGee squared off in the hot seat match that ended with the first of Laney’s double-hill victories.

On the one-loss side, it was Jeff Tabet and Dustin Byrd emerging from among the tournament’s final 12 to face Wright and Farias in the battle for advancement to the quarterfinals.  Tabet advanced with an 8-2 victory over Farias, as Wright, working his way back to a rematch against Laney, defeated Dustin Byrd 8-6.Wright dropped Tabet into fourth place 8-4 and turned to face McGee, the last obstacle on his journey back to a rematch against Laney. McGee dropped into third place when Wright handed him his second straight double-hill defeat.

While it looked, early on in the finals, as if Laney were going to conclude his tournament bid undefeated, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Wright fought back to tie it. At that juncture in the final match, it turned into a grind that brought them to 5-5. It looked, after Laney had gone ahead 6-5, as if Wright was in a position to win the game and tie the match for the fourth time, but he hit a side pocket with the 5 ball so hard that it bounced back out of the pocket and onto the floor. Laney cleared the table and reached the hill first. Wright battled back to hill-hill, but he scratched shooting at the 3 ball in the final game, giving Laney the ball in hand he needed to close it out.
 
Results:
1st Mike Laney
2nd Kevin Wright
3rd Jared McGee
4th Jeff Tabet
5th Dustin Byrd
Junior Farias
7th Matt Reed
Roderick Galan
9th Jefferson Taylor
Mark Nanashee
Dusty North
John Salter

Bagwell Hangs on to Great Southern Billiard Tour Win

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Bagwell Hangs on to Great Southern Billiard Tour Win
Great Southern Billiard Tour / Conway, SC

by Skip Maloney, Inside POOL Magazine

Brian Bagwell snared the win at the latest stop on the Great Southern Billiard Tour at Break Room Billiards in Conway, SC.

In spite of a strong effort that forced a second set in a true double-elimination final, Brian Bagwell hung on to defeat Greg Dix and win the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s amateur event, held the weekend of August 23-24. The $2000-added event drew 53 entrants to Break Room Billiards in Conway, SC.

Earlier Sunday, among the winners’-side final four, Bagwell had defeated Danny Mastermaker in a double-hill struggle that put him up against Larry Faulk in the hot seat match. Faulk had just completed an 8-6 bout of his own against Larry Jackson. Bagwell sent Faulk to the semifinals with relative ease 8-3.

In the meantime, Dix, already assured a spot among the event’s final 12 winners, proceeded to win four matches in a row on the one-loss side by increasingly narrower margins. He started off with an 8-3 win over Rocky Guell and followed it with an 8-5 victory over Jason Heyward. He then defeated Jackson 8-6 and won a double-hill battle against Phillip Britt in the quarterfinals. He picked up some momentum from a subsequent 8-2 victory over Faulk in the semifinal match.

Dix took that momentum into the opening set of the finals, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. He allowed Bagwell to draw within one at 6-5 but won the final two to force a second set. This time it was Bagwell, jumping out to an early 3-1 lead, before Dix tied it. Bagwell went ahead by another three games and Dix responded, knotting it at 6-6. Bagwell reached hill first, but Dix matched the effort. With an alternate-break format in place, Bagwell broke the last rack and ran the table to secure the victory.

Results:
1st Brian Bagwell
2nd Greg Dix
3rd Larry Faulk
4th Phillip Britt
5th Larry Jackson
Danny Mastermaker
7th Jason Heyward
Junior Farias
9th Mike Staubes
Rocky Guell
Jim Jennings
Jared McGee