FAIRLAWN, Ohio – After giving some pins back early in the opening round of match play, Jason Belmonte pulled away down the stretch to build on his lead at the 2019 PBA Tournament of Champions.

Belmonte led by 225 pins after the third round of qualifying early Thursday and expanded that lead to 264 pins after the first eight games of match play at AMF Riviera Lanes. Belmonte has a 26-game total of 6,226, a 232.54 average, after posting a 6-2 match-play record.

“There were definitely some things we saw in this first match play round we didn’t see in qualifying,” Belmonte said. “What you’re going to typically see is guys get out to a good start after the first one or two games, then who you bowl each match is really going to influence the adjustments you make from there.”

Results: PBA Tournament of Champions Match Play Round 2

In the opening match, Belmonte took down Sean Lavery-Spahr, 247-204, but struggled for bit after that only managing games of 201, 205, 157, 215 and 196. He closed with games of 278 and 268 to build back up his lead.

“I definitely got caught in a couple games mainly because I didn’t expect to see how drastic the lanes were changing,” Belmonte said. “It was looking like I was going to be happy with a few wins and call it a day, but fortunately I really executed the last two games.”

The 24 players return for 16 additional games of match play Friday to determine the top five for Sunday’s stepladder finals. The second round of match play begins at 11 a.m. Eastern live on FloBowling on Friday with the final round taking place at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Like Belmonte, Dom Barrett also posted a 6-2 record and sits in second place with 5,962, while EJ Tackett is third after going 4-4 and totaling 5,942. Michael Machuga, who is bowling his first TOC in over five years, jumped up to fourth place with 5,926 after going 5-3.

Jake Peters currently occupies the fifth position with 5,912, but it is shaping up to be a close race to the finish in the final 16 games of match play.

Ten other players are within 200 pins of fifth place and still have a legitimate shot to crack into the show. Among them are Lavery-Spahr, Matt Ogle, Marshall Kent, Sean Rash, Mitch Beasley, Andres Gomez, Josh Blanchard, Wes Malott, Jon Van Hees and Darren Tang.