JT Dant edges Sam Lawrence for Masters title by 1 pin: ‘It was crazy’

JT Dant is the King Pin once again with no pin to spare.

Dant won his seventh Princeton Masters Bowling championship, defeating Sam Lawrence in the championship match on Sunday at Pin Splitter Lanes by one pin.

It was either man’s game until the very last ball with Dant edging Lawrence 248-247. Dant struck out in the ninth and 10th frame to force Lawrence to at least get two strikes and one pin. He ended up getting one strike and a nine-pin spare, giving Dant the one-pin victory.

“I loved I was able to seal the deal but it’s very hard winning while you’re sitting down on the bench. It’s very difficult,” Dant said. “Definitely, a neck-to-neck game. At one point I had two spares, he had three strikes. Then I had three strikes and he had two spares. We were switching back the entire game all the way to the 10th frame.

“We definitely gave it a show for everyone because everyone watching was all on their toes.”

Dant, the owner of Pin Splitter Lanes, has previously won Masters titles in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2023. He was runner-up in last year’s finals.

“The Masters are definitely my favorite thing that I ever bowl,” Dant said. “It was nice especially this year with everyone bowling crazy in the same games. It was definitely impressive for me to get out on top with this group.”

There was no change of standings in the stair-ladder finals. Fourth-place bowler AJ Egan, last year’s champion, defeated the challenge of fifth-place finisher Michael McClure. Egan lost to former champion Joe Zokal, who was third. Lawrence beat Zokal to earn the right to face Dant.

Top 10 standings heading into the final round were Dant (99.34), Lawrence (97.21), Zokal (95.43), Egan (95.24), McClure (92.16), Garrett Allen (91.08), Matt Gapski (90.), Chris Layton (88.26), Randy Dalrymple (87.44) and David Tuft (87.08).

Allen and Tuft received the newly renamed Mike Young/Dave Camp Sportsmanship Award, in honor of President Dave Camp, who died in a Nov. 29 auto accident.

Chuck Putts Award winners were Lawrence for the high-tournament average of 235.98 and Allen for +20 pins over average.