Major Players Ousted at Turning Stone
Defending Champ Dominguez Forges Ahead
Turning Stone Classic XIV / Verona, NY
by InsidePOOL Staff
Some big names are on the one-loss side already or even missing from the Turning Stone Classic XIV, held this weekend at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY. Of the 128-player field that turned up to contend for their share of the $25,000-added prize purse, only 16 players remain undefeated.
Mika Immonen, who has won innumerable titles in the past year, has already left the building. He squeaked by Martin Lalonde 9-8 in his first match but was sent to the one-loss side by 2009 Mosconi Cup teammate Thorsten Hohmann 9-3 in the second round. There he faced Francis Crevier and ended up on the wrong side of their hill-hill match.
Another name no longer extant on the brackets is that of Donnie Mills. The semifinalist at this year’s U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships faced Louis Ulrich in the first round and was sent west 9-3. In his second match Mills met Cleiton Rocha, who eliminated him by the score of 9-3.
Danny “Kid Delicious” Basavich has been ousted as well. He suffered a first-round loss to Brandon Shuff, who won the Virginia State 9-Ball Championship in 2009, 9-6. From the west side Basavich dealt Mike Andrews a donut and then went on to face Zion Zvi, runner-up at the Turning Stone Classic XIII. Zvi made short work of Basavich, eliminating him 9-3.
Corey Deuel lost his first-round match to Rodney Cuillerier 9-7 and is still fighting through the west side. So far he has ousted Joe Pierce 9-5 and Elio D’Andrea 9-4. His next match will be against Jose “Amang” Parica, whose journey so far has consisted of a first-round, hill-hill victory over Chris Lynch, a second-round loss to Mike Dechaine 9-6, and a third-round win over Teddy Cook 9-2.
Some big names are on the one-loss side already or even missing from the Turning Stone Classic XIV, held this weekend at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY
Also fighting for his life, Shaun Wilkie was sent west in the first round by Joe Tucker 9-5. From there he has so far bested Bob Cunningham 9-1 and Ronnie “Everything’s Funny When You’re Winning Big Money” Wiseman 9-4. His next match will be against Nelson Oliviera.
View the Turning Stone tournament brackets (will be updated regularly)
More recent arrivals on the west side include Shuff, Mike Dechaine, Ernesto Dominguez, John Schmidt, lone female Liz Ford, and Ralf Souquet.
On the winners’ side, defending champion Oscar “The Big O” Dominguez leads the charge to the finish, having won three matches in a row to make it to the final 16 undefeated, with his last victory a win over Dechaine 9-6. Joining him are Mosconi Cup teammates Johnny Archer and Dennis Hatch. In his second-round match, Archer sent fellow teammate Shane Van Boening to the west side 9-5 and then bested Mhet Vergara 9-2. His next match will be against Hohmann. Hatch’s most recent win was over Chris Orme 9-4, with his next opponent Dave Dupuis. Dominguez’s next challenge will be Manny Chau.
Other players without a loss include “Rocket” Rodney Morris, Steve Moore, Matt Krah, Marcus Chamat, and Dave Grau.
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