Carolina Remains in Ussery's Control

By Steve Jennings

When B.J. Ussery plays, it's like a fire burns from within him.  He lit up the field again when the Fury Carolina Amateur 9-Ball Tour came to Babineau's in Raleigh, NC, o­n October 9, 2004. 

Ussery scored a first round bye, but veteran Danny Turner sent him to the left side of the chart in a second-round match 7-5.  It served as a wake-up call to Ussery, who sliced and diced his way through the o­ne-loss side with seven straight wins.  In all, he compiled a 35-10 record in the west side to get back to a familiar spot-the finals.

Johnny Griffin followed his first-round victory over Robert Ray with wins over Dale Russell, Jeff Abernathy, Tommy Cooke, and Morris Wood to take the hot seat.  Wood earned his third place finish with wins over Lee Bryant, Ricky Maki, and Adam Davis.  Wood's loss to Griffin sent him to the left side for his last match of the day against Ussery, in which he fell to the eventual winner.

Although Griffin was o­n all day, the long wait in the hot seat seemed to cool him down.  Against Ussery in the finals, Griffin started the first game strong but got out of shape o­n the 8 and left Ussery an 8-9 out.  Griffin evened it up in Game 2, running out after a miss o­n the 2 ball by Ussery.  Mistakes by Griffin allowed Ussery to grab the next two games and a 3-1 lead. Griffin broke and ran the following rack, and Ussery returned the favor in the next game.  A 4-9 combo brought Griffin back to within o­ne rack, but the next two games went to Ussery. Griffin took Game 10 when Ussery scratched o­n the 7 ball, but his miss o­n the 5 ball in next game gave Ussery a 7-4 lead. 

In Game 12, it looked like Griffin caught a break when Ussery got pocket-hooked trying to line up o­n the 4 ball, but, unbelievably, Griffin also pocket-hooked himself o­n the 7, giving Ussery the game.  At 8-4, Ussery miscued o­n the 1 ball, and Griffin took ball in hand to run the rack.  That was as close as it got, with Ussery claiming Game 14 to win the match 9-5.

Results:
1st B.J. Ussery $415
2nd Johnny Griffin $250
3rd Morris Wood $165
4th Robert Ray $90