Murnak Doubles Up Wong to Win Tri-State Eventby John Leyman Heavy rain and strong winds pummeled New York City on April 2-3, but the weather only helped to flood Amsterdam Billiards and Bar with 34 players who competed in the "B"-"D" handicap event. Early on, it was Michael Wong who was dominating the Tri-State Tour stop, but James Murnak came back through to earn the victory. Wong was the talk of the town, winning five straight matches to reach the hot seat. Murnak, though, hit a bump in his fourth-round match against Tom Drapeau, who bested him 7-4. After another win, Drapeau reached the hot seat match but was sent to the semifinals by Wong. In the west side, Murnak came back full of steam, ousting Jeff Tischler and Dan Kramer to set up a rematch with Drapeau in the semis. With a commanding 6-2 win, Murnak got his revenge and advanced to the finals. In the first set of the final match, it appeared as if Wong was going to complete an undefeated weekend of play, pulling head with a 4-2 lead, but Murnak scored two straight wins to tie up the match. In the next game, Murnak's miss on the 6 ball allowed Wong to run out the rack to reach the hill. Wong followed up with a break-and-run up to the 8 ball, which he left hooked in the corner. Two nice shots by Murnak brought the match to hill-hill, and, in the decisive rack, Murnak took advantage of another bad leave by Wong to run out and win the first set. In the second set, Murnak built a 4-2 lead, but Wong nailed a 1-9 combo to get within one game. However, Murnak could taste the victory, and he bore down and took the last two games to win 6-3. Results:
1st James Murnak
2nd Michael Wong
3rd Tom Drapeau
4th Dan Kramer
5th Bruno Coto, Jeff Tischler
7th Roger Pachebat, Joshua Cataquet
9th Bob Riley, Robert Pirrazzi, Brandon Ince, Yanik James Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the Tri-State Tour.
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