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5 - 15 February 2014
All photography courtesy of ©Mike Brown / WPBL
OUTLAWS DEFEAT CRUISE
Written by: Steve Strain & Kim Spies
The last match-up in the second round of the World Professional Billiard League’s Championship Playoffs were played at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The action took place on Tuesday February 11th when the #2 seed Minnesota Outlaws defeated the #11 seed Miami Cruise.
The Outlaws capitalized on some early miscues by the Cruise and jumped out to a 5-0 match lead, then held on for a 7-2 victory over the Miami to advance to the semi-final round of the WPBL playoffs.
Thorsten Hohmann, Ralf Souquet, and Jesse Engel opened up play with a 30-3 win over Miami's Corey Deuel, Jose Parica, and Hunter Lombardo to take a 2-0 lead. Engel and Hohmann then paired up for a 30-18 win over Parica and Deuel, lifting Minnesota's lead to 4-0 before Minnesota picked up another shoot-out point when Hohmann and Souquet edged Deuel and Lombardo 25-24.
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Lombardo committed 3 scratch fouls in the first half, but did help Miami pick up a shoot-out point in the final doubles game of the match when he paired with Parica for a 25-15 win, to make the score 5-1 at the half-way point of the match.
The deficit remained 4 after the first singles game, as Engel and Parica each picked up a point in a thrilling 30-30 tie that saw Parica make two incredible shots on the bonus ball to reach the 30 point plateau. Twice faced with long banks from one end of the table to the other, he was good on both to help his team earn a point, keeping them alive in the match.
Hohmann increased Minnesota's lead to 7-2 by knocking off Deuel 27-18 in singles with just two games left in the match. Souquet then clinched his singles match by sending the game with Lombardo to a shoot-out that left no way for Miami to earn enough points to match Minnesota's 7.
The Outlaws next face the Pittsburgh Poison on Thursday February 13th in the first match-up in the semi-final round of the tournament. The winner of that match faces Wednesday's semi-final winner between Earl Strickland's New York Pride and Johnny Archer's Atlanta Scorpions. Both semi-final matches will be at 6:30 PST, with the WPBL Championship match scheduled for Saturday February 15th at 1 pm PST.
The tournament takes a break Friday night for the WPBL's All-Star Charity Challenge to raise money for typhoon relief effort in the Philippines. Filipino stars Dennis Orcollo and Carlo Biado join the New York Pride’s Warren Kiamco and will face Hohmann, Darren Appleton, and John Morra in an exhibition match of Bonus Ball. Pay-per-view proceeds from the match will be donated by the WPBL to the relief fund through the Rising Asian Pacific Americans Coalition for Diversity (501c3) in Las Vegas.
ESPN3 has live coverage of the remaining three playoff matches, however subscribers to the entire WPBL playoff package will still receive all archived matches from the tournament.
To purchase the WPBL All Star Charity Billiards Challenge or the entire Championship Package, please
visit www.WPBLtv.com. Follow the WPBL as the playoffs continue, additional announcements and updates will be made frequently. For a complete listing of broadcast matches, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website.
WPBL SEMI-FINALS: SCORPIONS PREVAIL OVER THE PRIDE
All photography courtesy of ©Mike Brown / WPBL
SCORPIONS PREVAIL OVER THE PRIDE
Written by: Steve Strain & Kim Spies
The first of two semi-final matches in the World Professional Billiard League’s Championship Playoffs were played at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The #1 seed New York Pride took on the #12 seed Atlanta Scorpions on Wednesday February 12, 2014.
The lowest seeded team in the WPBL will be moving on to the championship match after defeating the top seeded team in the semi-finals. The Scorpions will play in Saturday's final after a 7-2 victory over the Pride. Atlanta will face-off in the title match against either the Minnesota Outlaws or the Pittsburgh Poison.
The Wednesday semi-final was decided in the seventh game, when Earl Strickland's comeback effort fell 6 points short to Shannon Daulton 25-20, giving Atlanta that game and the match. The night was dominated by shoot-outs, with only 1 of the seven games decided in regulation. Dennis Hatch defeated Larry Nevel 30-15 in the second singles game of the night, giving Atlanta a 6-2 lead and setting up Daulton's match-clinching victory over Strickland.
The first four games of the match all went to shoot-outs, and the string started with each team earning a point in the first game that ended in a 22-22 tie. Atlanta followed by winning two of the next three doubles games, but could only manage one point shoot-out wins as they squandered numerous opportunities to win in regulation. Perhaps their best opportunity was blown when Dennis Hatch and Daulton were leading Strickland and Larry Nevel 24-0, only to fall 28-26 in a shoot-out that tied the match at 2-2.
Atlanta bounced back in the next doubles game when Johnny Archer and Daulton paired up to edge Strickland and Warren Kiamco 26-25 to give Atlanta a 3-2 intermission lead that they never relinquished.
Archer gave his Scorpions another point to open singles play when he knocked off Warren Kiamco 27-26 putting Atlanta up 4-2.
Atlanta's win leaves the possibility of the two lowest seeds in the league vying for the championship title, as #11 seed Pittsburgh faces Thorsten Hohmann's Minnesota Outlaws in the second semi-final match Thursday February 13, 2014 at 6:30 PST.
Saturday's final is set for 1 p.m. PST, with the tournament taking a break on Friday for the WPBL's All-Star Charity Challenge. The challenge will feature Filipino stars Dennis Orcullo, Carlo Biado, and Kiamco against Darren Appleton, John Morra, and Hohmann, pay-per-view proceeds will go toward the typhoon relief effort in the Philippines and will be donated to the Rising Asian Pacific Americans Coalition for Diversity (501c3) in Las Vegas. That match can be purchased at: www.wpbltv.com/subscription, while the remaining playoff matches can be seen at the WPBL website or on ESPN3.
ESPN3 has live coverage of the remaining two playoff matches, however subscribers to the entire WPBL playoff package will still receive all archived matches from the tournament.
To purchase the WPBL All Star Charity Billiards Challenge or the entire Championship Package, please
visit: www.WPBLtv.com. Follow the WPBL as the playoffs continue, additional announcements and updates will be made frequently. For a complete listing of broadcast matches, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website.
WPBL SEMI-FINALS: OUTLAWS OUTLAST THE POISON
All photography courtesy of ©Mike Brown / WPBL
Minnesota Outlaws Face-Off against the Atlanta Scorpions in the Finals
The second World Professional League semi-final match was played at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas, NV. On Thursday February 13, 2014. The match-up featured the #2 seed Minnesota Outlaws vs. the #9 seed Pittsburg Poison.
The Poison's dramatic run in the WPBL Championship Playoffs ended with a heartbreaking 7-5 loss to the Outlaws Thursday February 13th, sending Minnesota to Saturday's WPBL Championship game to face the Atlanta Scorpions. Pittsburgh needed to win the final game in regulation to stay alive, but failed to score when given the opportunities down the stretch. That left the door open for Minnesota to run out the clock in regulation and clinch the match.
Pittsburgh fell behind in the match 4-0 in the first three games before storming back to take a 5-4 lead when Shawn Putnam outlasted Ralf Souquet in a singles shoot-out 27-19. Adam Smith, who played the biggest role in Pittsburgh's comeback, tied the match a 4-4 in the previous game by defeating Jesse Engel 30-6.
Smith was also key in helping the Poison pick up their first match points of the night, cutting a pair of tough scoring shots in along the way to a 30-6 win paired with Sylver Ochoa, as they defeated Engel and Thorsten Hohmann. But Hohmann would get the last laugh in singles, shutting out Ochoa 30-0 in the final singles game, putting the Outlaws up 7-5 before clinching the match for a spot in the finals.
The WPBL’s first Championship match can be seen Saturday February 15, 2014 at 1pm PT live to viewers in the United States on ESPN3, viewers outside the US able to see the live stream at www.wpbltv.com/subscribe. This historic match will have Thorsten Hohmann’s Outlaws taking on Johnny Archer’s Scorpions to become the first ever WPBL Champions. Atlanta’s rise to the finals has been unexpected as they were seeded last in the league, but have continually gained momentum as a team landing them in season’s final match. On the other hand, the Outlaws have played consistent all season therefore securing a spot in the finals seemed inevitable.
Friday February 14, 2014, the league will hold the All Star Charity Billiards Challenge match for Philippine typhoon relief as Filipino stars Dennis Orcullo and Carlo Biado join Warren Kiamco and face Hohmann, Darren Appleton, and John Morra. Proceeds will be donated to the Rising Asian Pacific Americans Coalition for Diversity (501c3) in Las Vegas. That match can be purchased at: www.wpbltv.com/subscription.
Follow the WPBL as we near the league championship, additional announcements and updates will be made frequently. For a complete listing of broadcast matches, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website.
