Archer and Immonen to Meet at High Noon
10-Ball Desert Shoot-Out / Tempe, AZ
By Skip Maloney
It’s only fitting that the last two winning billiards “cowboys” still standing in the 10-Ball Desert Shoot-Out in Tempe, AZ, will meet in the desert at high noon on the tournament’s last day. Johnny Archer continued his blistering pace on Saturday, defeating both Gabe Owen and Mike Davis to move into the winners’-side final against Mika Immonen, who defeated Robb Saez and John Schmidt to move into the hot seat showdown.
Archer opened the tournament with 23 straight wins before giving up two games to Bobby Emmens. As he prepared for Sunday, he had given up a total of only eight games to five opponents. He defeated Owen 9-4 in the round of eight and then played almost flawlessly through the subsequent match against Mike Davis. He was up 6-0 before trading games with Davis and reaching the hill at 8-2, where he closed it out.
Immonen sent Saez to the one-loss side with a 9-5 win before dispatching Schmidt with a 9-7 victory that wasn’t as close as the final score might indicate. Immonen reached the hill with Schmidt down by four racks—Schmidt’s late charge fell just short of forcing a hill-hill game, and Immonen moved on.
On the one-loss side, Efren Reyes was eliminated by Charlie Bryant in a hill-hill match. Bryant went on to defeat Owen 9-7 and eliminate him from further action. Tony Robles took Earl Strickland out of the tournament with a 9-6 win before running into Corey Deuel, who took him out in another close match 9-7.
Tony Crosby was eliminated from the tournament after defeating Cliff Joyner and then falling 9-7 to Saez. Deuel was scheduled to meet Saez in the next round, as Bryant squared off against Oscar Dominguez, who’d been knocked off the winners’ side by Davis. Schmidt was scheduled to meet the winner of the Deuel/Saez match, while Davis was to meet the winner of the Bryant/Dominguez contest.
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