Tri-State Tour / Edison, NJ
by Lea Andrews
Though he suffered a brief setback on the winners’ side, Paul Everton wasn’t deterred and went on to victory at the Tri-State Tour stop August 1. Everton was one of the 24-player field that gathered for the $500-added event at Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ.
Starting off with a string of hill-hill matches and edging past Angelo Fiorino, Andrew Kane, and Robert Perkins, Everton’s only setback came in the form of 2008-2009 B-Class Player of the Year Gary Murgia, who kept Everton from getting a shot at the hot seat by sending him west 7-3. Phil Carr, riding a hill-hill win over James DeLillo, took the hot seat match hill-hill as well, coming out on top to be last man standing on the right side of the bracket.
Over on the left side, one of last season’s “Most Improved Players,” Ben Sadowski got past John Egeln 7-5 only to fall to Perkins, who last round had knocked aside C-Class Player of the Year and Sportsman of the Year David Fitzpatrick 9-6. Next up for Perkins was DeLillo, whom he brushed aside 7-3 to move into the quarterfinals against Everton, who’d just survived yet another hill-hill match, this time against Jeremiah DeLeo. It wasn’t the last for Everton, though, as he took it hill-hill with Perkins just as he had in one of the earlier rounds. The outcome was the same, of course, and Perkins sat in third while Everton moved on to the semifinal match against Murgia, and keeping Murgia one game shy of the hill at 7-5, Everton moved on to his final victim.
Everton, as the lower-ranked player, started the modified final match with one game on the wire and took the first two games to get up 3-0, but Carr rallied to get it to 4-4. Everton, managing to capitalize on a few errors on Carr’s part, got the score to 7-4 to turn the set into a race to 9. The two then traded games to get the score to 8-6, and with Carr’s shot on the 9 ball next headed straight for the pocket, it appeared the score was about to be 8-7. When the nine hung up in the pocket, though, a handshake from Carr gave the tournament win to Everton.
Though he suffered a brief setback on the winners’ side, Paul Everton wasn’t deterred and went on to victory at the Tri-State Tour stop August 1.
Results:
1st Paul Everton $500
2nd Phil Carr $220
3rd Gary Murgia $120
4th Robert Perkins $60