Lucas Kilgore comes from the loss side to win NY State 9-Ball Barbox Championship
As we noted back in September ’22, when 14-year-old Lucas Kilgore from Maryland won his first regional tour title, the youngster had not been among the junior competitors who’d followed Ra Hanna’s Junior International Championship series of events as it moved about the country. He chose instead to “follow his own path” (as we put […]
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Patrick Gutierrez and Lucas Kilgore
As we noted back in September ’22, when 14-year-old Lucas Kilgore from Maryland won his first regional tour title, the youngster had not been among the junior competitors who’d followed Ra Hanna’s Junior International Championship series of events as it moved about the country. He chose instead to “follow his own path” (as we put it at the time), which had brought him to Cambridge, MD to win the ‘560 and Under Maryland Fargo event’ and a month later, finish in the tie for 17th at the SVB (Shane Van Boening) Junior Open.
After competing and finishing ‘in the money’ at four B & L Billiard Tournament events in 2023 (his father, Brian is the ‘B’ in ‘B & L’), the now-16-year-old Lucas travelled to Selden, NY, out on Long Island this past weekend (April 4-6) and came from the loss side to win the $3,000-added, premiere NY State 9-Ball Barbox Championships, which drew 88 entrants to Goodfellas Billiards in Selden.
The event was split into separate High (34 entrant) and Low (54 entrant) brackets at the start and was, in effect, two tournaments, with the winner of each competing in a single, final match. Kilgore won that match over Patrick Gutierrez to claim the overall event title.
Following an opening-round bye, Kilgore found his opponents getting closer and closer as the matches progressed. He opened with a 9-4 win over Brian Vazquez and gave up six to Nicolas Rojas. He then won two straight 9-7 matches against Rob Fatone, and in a winners’ side semifinal, William Aley, which put him into the hot seat match.
His opponent in that match, Tyler Cleaves, played an extra match (no bye), opening with a 9-3 win over Dave Callaghan and a 9-5 win over Anthony Pitkanen. Mike Patanjo battled him to double hill before Cleaves prevailed to defeat Alex Guerrero 9-7 and in the other winners’ side semifinal, Alfredo Altamirano 9-5. In their first of two, Cleaves claimed the hot seat 9-7.
Altamirano and Aley came over to the loss side and defeated their first opponents on that side, Altamirano over Richard Silva 7-3 and Aley 7-1 over Alex Guerrero, to advance to the quarterfinal. Altamirano eliminated Aley 7-2 in those quarterfinals and was himself eliminated, by Kilgore 7-5 in the semifinals.
In a single, extended-race in the finals, Kilgore and Cleaves suited up to do battle again. If Cleaves had reached seven racks first, it would have been over, but it wasn’t. Kilgore got there first, extending the race to 9, and then closed it out to win the lower bracket 9-2.
Gutierrez comes from the loss side to claim the High bracket title
Patrick Gutierrez ran into trouble in the winners’ side semifinal of the High bracket. Though he’d opened by giving up just a single rack over his first two matches, one to Kevin Shin in the opening round and none versus Evan Broxmeyer, he gave up six to Asa Shaw and then lost his winners’ side semifinal to Del Sim 9-5.
Henry Cha, in the meantime, headed for a showdown with Sim in the hot seat match, got by Marvin Gomez 9-7, Rhys Chen 9-1 and Justin Muller 9-4 to face and defeat Josh Thiele 9-4 in the other winners’ side semifinal. Sim claimed the hot seat 9-5 over Cha and waited on the return of Guttierez.
Guttierez and Thiele arrived on the loss side and picked up Paul Tytler and Rhys Chen, respectively. Guttierez advanced to the quarterfinal 7-2 over Tytler, while Thiele and Chen locked up in a double-hill battle that eventually sent Chen to those quarterfinals.
Gutierrez eliminated Chen 7-3 and then punched his ticket to the High side finals with a 7-2 win over Cha in the semifinals. In an extended-race, similar to the Low side bracket, Gutierrez downed Sim 9-3 for a shot in the overall event final against Kilgore.
In the only handicapped match in the event, Kilgore was awarded four ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9. He claimed the NY State Barbox 9-Ball Championship with a 5-4 win in the final match.
Tour directors Justin Muller and Ernesto Gomez thanked the ownership and staff at Goodfellas Billiards, along with the players who showed up to compete.
