From the left: Becky Strack, Tom O’Leary, Veronica Daunais, Larry Bourey, Sandy Cole, Shrek Comiskey, Jeff Romano, Mike Strack, Bob Forrester and Sid Cole of Romano’s B celebrate early Wednesday morning with the Saranac Lake Pool League championship plaque. Missing from the photo are B team members Tom Foley and Glenn Strack. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — In a way, it was quite fitting that a marathon match decided who would be the champion of a long season in the Saranac Lake Pool League.

In a showdown between the top two teams in the league, Romano’s B came through with a 10-9 victory over Romano’s A to clinch the best-of-five championship final series and win the title for the first time.

The contest began at 7 p.m. Tuesday when it was still light outdoors and concluded five-and-a-half hours later when Sandy Cole sank the last eight ball of the season to lift Romano’s B to a 3-2 victory in the rubber match and the team’s first league title.

The two teams, which both call Romano’s Saranac Lanes their home turf, had been locked in a back-and-forth series for more than two weeks, and Tuesday’s final match was the closest competition of them all. Romano’s A, the reigning regular-season champion, grabbed early leads of 6-2 and 7-4, and later held a 9-7 edge. The B team then began to storm back.

With the last match of the season knotted at 9-9, Romano’s B triumphed in the final two games, with Jeff Romano sinking an eight ball to put his side up for the first time of the evening at 10-9, and Cole then draining the winning shot in the next game to seal the deal.

Jeff Romano sinks the eight ball to put Romano’s B on top 10-9. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Romano’s B was runner-up among the eight teams that competed during the regular season.

Players from Romano's B celebrate their championship win shortly after midnight Tuesday after clinching the title during a five-and-a-half hour long match. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Don Kirch makes a shot for Romano’s A during Tuesday's match. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)