Michas Earns Victory o­n Tour Opener

By R.T. Mechling
 
A field of 16 players descended upon Mickey's Billiards in Hoolbrook, MA, o­n May 15, as the J. Pechauer New England A/B Series Tour played its first event of the season.  Jason Michas claimed the title among a small but competitive field that included Mike Nickaloro, Steve Shimkus, Joe Dupree, and Shane Cote.

The hot seat match was between Cote and Dupree, and Cote jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead before Dupree tied the match at 4-4.  Cote capitalized o­n some mistakes made by Dupree, but nevertheless found himself in a hill-hill battle.  Cote scored the win in the difficult match by putting Dupree away 7-6.

On the o­ne-loss side Dupree was matched up against the strong local player, Michas.  Dupree took a commanding 5-2 lead, but the momentum quickly shifted to Michas as he evened the score at 5-5.  Michas ousted Dupree 7-5 by taking advantage of careless errors made by his opponent to earn his first ever spot in the finals.   

The final match was neck-and-neck as the two shooters battled through the first twelve games.  Neither player appeared to be playing his best, and by the 13th game it seemed as though Michas was tiring.  Down by two games, though, Michas seized control of the match by winning the next four games to lead 10-8.  Cote wasn't finished, though, as he took the next game to get the score to 10-9.  Michas proved too tough for Cote in the end as he claimed his first title of the year 11-9.
 

Results:

1st Jason Michas $400
2nd Shane Cote $215
3rd Joe Dupree $100
4th Steve Shimkus $ 55

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