BEST IN THE WEST

champs Kyle King & Steven Acuff

    Kyle King claimed his 2nd JBT major, while Steven Acuff claimed a few all-time records, each winning their divisions at the 2011 JBT Best In The West tournament, hosted by Brunswick Zone Mesa,

     The unique format has bowlers earning points for each round they advance through elimination-style matches, with those point totals, not pinfall, determining the standings.  It took 11 points in each division to get into a tiebreaker game to qualify for Sunday's semifinals, with Aaron Foshie and Savannah Carr winning those rolloffs to join the advancers.

       The top six bowlers after three more rounds on Sunday advanced to the finals, where the 3-6 seeds played with the top two advancing to play the #1-2 seeds, with the top two in that game playing for the title.  In round one of the scratch finals, King (258) and defending Best In The West champ Riley Dempsey (225) advanced, while Deven Johnston (208) and Cortez Schenck (201) bowed out.  Nick Lee and Lanndyn Carnate then entered, but couldn't stop the title match rematch as Nick's 193 and Lanndyn's 204 fell to King's 257 and Dempsey's 206.

        Kyle was looking to avoid losing his fourth straight Desert Open title match, including one to Dempsey last year.    Riley, the current all-conference Bowler of the Year, doubled in the tenth to make King mark, and when Kyle got the spare he needed, he gave himself a perfect 20th birthday present with a 226-218 win, and the 54th title of his unparalleled JBT career.

        Acuff and Zachary Rapp, the #3 and 4 seeds, followed the same path as Kyle and Riley to the finals.  They began with 259 and 220 respectively to eliminate #5 Candace Gardner (210) and #6 Stacey Lamb (187).  Top seed Jake Hilton (202) and #2 Ryan Zent (208) then fell to Steven (224) and Zach (234) to set up the title game.

        Acuff was up and down on Saturday, but caught fire in the semis, winning two rounds to leap into the finals.  Zach was having the best event of his JBT career, but he couldn't keep up with the strike barrage from Steven this game, as Acuff won 247-198 for the title.  The win was the 7th of his career, breaking Kris George's record for all-time handicap wins, and also breaking the tie with KJ Martinez for all-time career top-5 finishes!

        Thanks as always to the crew at Zone Mesa for another great job hosting this post-Thanksgiving tradition. Over $3,300 in scholarships were earned by under-22 bowlers of all averages.  Want in on all the fun?  Visit our website, pick out a tournament, and come on down!