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Hustlers are Thursday billiards champs
Jerry Soriano, left, joins his teammates for a photo after the Route33 Armatech Hustlers won the 2014 Budweiser Cup Thursday 8-Ball Billiards League last week. (Contributed Photo)
The Hustlers edged Smoke Pub Magic 8 Ball to clinch the top ranking after the elimination round and made it two-in-a-row over their opponents in the regular season finals.
In the Budweiser Cup finals, the Hustlers dropped their first two matches in the partner’s 8-ball events and even allowed the Titans to take a slim 5-4 edge in their race-to-9 title showdown.
The pairs of Jun Lee and John Thornsaket and Pat Cepeda and Ray Matsunaga delivered two quick wins for the Poseidon crew after beating the Hustlers’ tandems of Jerry Soriano and Senen Pangilinan and Simon Kapileo and Robert Sanciangco.
The opposing teams alternated in scoring wins in the singles and second set of matches in partner’s 8-ball events with Soriano and Pangilinan’s victory over Cepeda and Matsunaga keeping the game close at 5-4.
The Hustlers then won four of the five matches in the second set of singles 8-ball events with Soriano, Pangilinan, Sanciangco, and Kapileo beating Lee, Matsunaga, Cepeda and John Reyes, respectively, to move one win away from snaring the title.
Thoensaket then prevented the Hustlers from getting the needed win and kept the Titans title bid alive as he bested Sablan in the final singles 8-ball match.
But the Hustlers won’t be denied of the win with Soriano and Pangilinan dispatching Cepeda and Matsunaga in their partner’s 8-ball match-up to complete their title romp.
The Hustlers earlier downed Wild Bill’s, 9-3, in the semifinals to earn the first finals berth. They also eked out a 9-8 decision against Magic 8 Ball in the Last 8.
The Titans, meanwhile, pulled off a 9-6 triumph over Jonny’s Team SCS to arrange a title showdown with the Hustlers. The Poseidon crew nipped National Alamo Car Rental, 9-8, in the quarters.
Meanwhile, the awarding ceremony for the regular season and Budweiser Cup winners is set on Jan. 11, from 10:30am to 5pm at the Pacific Island Club-Saipan’s Charley’s Cabaret. (Jon Perez)
