In the battle for third place, Tom D’Alfonso, fresh off his first loss of the tournament to Nevel, faced Rob Saez in a 17-game match-up. D’Alfonso took an early 6-1 lead, before Saez, taking advantage of a scratch by D’Alfonso, reduced the lead to 6-4. A few back and forth games led to an 8-6 advantage for D’Alfonso and the opportunity to close it out. D’Alfonso sunk four balls off the break but scratched shooting at the 5 ball. Saez closed out, making it 8-7. He tied it up in spite of rattling the 8-ball in a corner pocket. D’Alfonso had to attempt a rail-first bank to get around the 9 ball, which sat between the cue and the 8. He missed it, and the “hill-hill” match was o­n. Saez put four balls in o­n the final break but snookered himself behind the 5 ball. He played safe, and when D’Alfonso missed a bank shot o­n the 5, Saez ran the table, sending his opponent home with third place.

Saez attempted to keep Nevel sitting down for their match in the finals, but when the score reached 5-2 Saez, Game 8, was the turning point. Saez scratched o­n the break, which started a killer, no-loss series for Nevel. He ran the table off Saez’s scratch, broke and ran two tables after that, and put the 9 ball in off the break in Game 11. He was ahead now for the first time (6-5) and never looked back, winning the next 3 and sailing home with the first-place trophy and cash.

Results

1^st Larry Nevel

2^nd Robb Saez

3^rd Tom D’Alfonso

4^th Seth Del Villano

5^th Ryan McCreesh, Bob Chaperon

7^th Rich Ditulio, Harry Chaggaris

9^th Mike Davis, Jim Forsythe, Jason Brown, Cliff Thorburn

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