Orcollo secures semis seat in BSCP 9-ball

REIGNING world No. 1 and world 8-ball champion Dennis Orcollo beat Allan Cuartero, 9-5 on Friday to advance to the semifinal round of the 9-ball competition in the BSCP National Pool Championship at the Star Billiards Center in Quezon City.

The event serves as a qualifying round for the AKTV World Pool Summit in November.

“Slowly but surely, I’m beginning to get my game going,” said Orcollo, top player of Bugsy Promotions.

The first nine racks were evenly fought before Orcollo started to break the game wide open beginning on the 10th when he won three consecutive racks for an 8-4 lead.

Although Cuartero took the 13th rack, there was no stopping the hottest player in the international circuit from capturing the 14th to complete the win and hand Cuartero his first loss in nine matches going back to the 8-Ball event that started last Monday.

Cuartero, who is already assured of a finals berth in the 8-Ball event, fell into the losers’ bracket where he will face the winner of the Leonardo Andam-Carlo Biado match.

While Orcollo was beginning to make his presence felt in the 9-Ball event, Jerico Banares sizzled on all fronts, winning his first five games capped by a near perfect performance against Roberto “Pinoy Superman” Gomez whom he crushed, 9-1.

The young cue artist from Antipolo City also had a near flawless performance on Thursday night when he subdued Jeff de Luna, 9-1. The win over Gomez allowed Banares to join Orcollo in the Final Four round.

Renemar “Revo” David, another rising pool star, and Rodrigo Geronimo pulled off contrasting victories in the losers’ bracket  to keep their flickering semifinal hopes alive.

David whipped veteran Rene Cruz, 9-6 while Geronimo edged Arvi Tanega in a hill-hill duel, 9-8.   /correspondent Marlon Bernardino