LAS VEGAS (June 23, 2013)
All of the World Professional Billiard League's North Division teams competed this weekend at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas. In the end, the Toronto Blue Sharks emerged atop the division, while the Philadelphia Aces fell from first to fourth place.
Much of the focus on week 4 of the WPBL was on the first appearance for Thorsten Hohmann since his incredible 60 point shoot-out run June 1st, and he did not disappoint. His Outlaws opened the weekend with a 9-4 win over Toronto Friday night, with Hohmann's singles defeat of John Morra helping put the Blue Sharks away.
Saturday, Hohmann and teammates Ralf Souquet and Jesse Engel earned 9 points in the league standings for a second straight day by defeating the Philadelphia Aces 9-5. The Outlaws have not lost a match this season, but still sit percentage points behind first place Toronto in the North division standings and fourth overall.
Toronto rebounded from Friday's defeat and had their way with Chicago Saturday 14-2. Blue Sharks Jason Klatt, Morra, and Eric Hjorliefson swept their singles games. The team's 14 match points are the second most scored in a match by a team this season, ultimately propelling them to first in the division.
Chicago's loss to Toronto put them at 0-2 in matches for the season, but Rodney Morris, Mika Immonen and Raj Hundal turned things around Sunday against Pittsburgh with an 11-7 win. The Rockets trailed the Poison 5-1 at the half, and had been outscored 28-8 in match points for the season. But the Rockets came back fighting, firing off 30-1, 30-19, and 30-0 singles wins by Immonen, Morris, and Hundal respectively. The Rockets still sit in last place in the North Division behind the Pittsburgh Poison, although they have moved to up to 10th overall.
The Poison defeated New York 12-7 Saturday, handing the Pride their third consecutive loss. Stellar play by Shawn Putnam and Adam Smith resulted in a 30-0 shutout in doubles play over Earl Strickland and Larry Nevel. New York bounced back Sunday to earn an 11-6 win highlighted by Strickland's 31-0 perfect game in singles play over Stevie Moore. The win ended a three match losing streak for the Pride, which leaves them deadlocked with Minnesota for second in the North Division, just behind Toronto.
Despite losing both matches for the weekend, Philadelphia still has the highest rated player in the league as Darren Appleton sports a 76.8 player rating, putting him 4.4 points ahead of Phoenix's Tommy Kennedy, whose team had the weekend off.
Each of the matches will be broadcast to a live studio audience at the WPBL Arena and at WPBLtv.com. For a complete listing of this weekend's schedule, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website. The WPBL will continue to make frequent announcements. Please continue to follow the WPBL for additional updates:
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Reported By: Steve Strain
Media Contact: Kimberly Spies
800-951-9250 ext. 1
kim@WPBLtv.com