Player: Shane Van Boening
Event: Mosconi Cup
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.
Date: Nov. 30, 2022



The opening match of the Mosconi Cup is always reserved for an all-team race-to-five, with both American and European teams cycling through their five-player roster. If scotch doubles matches can trip up the rhythm of the world's best players, this format seems actively working against players finding a groove. But Shane Van Boening apparently doesn't need to warm up.

In February's Stroke of Genius, he sank both balls in tricky carom in the first rack of the set. This month, we check in with the American superstar a few racks later. With a 3-2 lead, Team USA watched as the Europeans pinned the cue ball between the 6 and the left long rail, as shown in the diagram to the right. Nearly frozen to the object ball and maybe a half inch off the cushion, the cue ball wasn't doing Van Boening any favors. The 4 ball wasn't in a difficult position for a legal hit, but it didn't offer any reasonable angle to a pocket. The layout also offered little opportunity to hide the cue ball after contact.

But Van Boening saw a zig-zag path to victory. By hitting the 4 in precisely the correct spot, the cue ball could carom to the right and strike the 9 ball with an angle at the bottom left corner pocket. But being so close to the rail, Van Boening knew the cue ball could be unruly in the kick.

Still, with a confident stroke over the bridge, he popped the cue ball off the first rail and nearly fully into the 4. It ricocheted perfectly into the 9, which headed directly into the pocket to put Team USA on the hill in the opening match.

The Americans won the first point of the Mosconi Cup, but they would see Team Europe roar back from an early deficit for an 11-7 victory.




(Video clip provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions.)

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