Back-to-Back Wins for Aquino

By J.A. Barnes

 Either Julio Aquino is having the best luck possible, or he is truly o­ne of the best amateur players in Florida.  o­n April 17, Aquino took another Fury Central Florida Tour win, this time at Baron's Billiards in Bradenton, FL.

The 50-player field did make it a little harder o­n the tour's points leader, though, especially Nomar Paula, who came into the event trailing Aquino by just three points.  Not to mention that past Fury winners Adam Wheeler and Tim Daniel were also in attendance.

But it was Aquino who made his way through the winners' bracket to reach the hot seat match against Paula.  The two players traded blows, and they both made uncharacteristic errors, but Paula pulled out the win 7-4.

In the o­ne-loss side, the matches were tight, as Daniel narrowly fell to Bruce Choyce, while Wheeler edged out the young Justin Hall.  Choyce followed up with another win over Wheeler, setting up the semifinal match with Aquino.  However, Choyce barely got to shoot, as Aquino's bank shots and two combos helped him earn the 5-0 shutout.

In the final match, more than just the first-place prize was o­n the line.  The winner would also take over the points lead o­n the Florida Central Tour.  The match started off tight, as they traded the first few games, but Aquino went o­n a roll to take a 7-3 lead.  Paula wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet, as he used some tight safety play to win the next two games.  In the next rack, though, Paula came up dry o­n the break, and Aquino ran out the rack to get o­n the hill at 8-5.  Aquino's next break also came up dry, but a missed 6 by Paula left Aquino to run out for his fifth overall win in both the Fury North and Central Florida divisions. 

Results:

1st Julio Aquino $510
2nd Nomar Paula $280
3rd Bruce Choyce $180
4th Adam Wheeler $100
5th Tim Daniel, Justin Hall $75
7th Eric David, Bill Bloom $60
9th Jose Del Rio, Bill Eisenhard, Robert Noon, Wesley Whitfield $40

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