Thursday, January 3, 2019

Three Jump From Storm, Roto Grip To EBI

Ebonite International has signed AJ Johnson, Shawn Maldonado and Keven Williams away from Storm and Roto Grip heading into the 2019 PBA Tour season.

Ebonite Marketing Manager Rob Gotchall tells FloBowling all three signed two-year deals. Johnson will represent the Ebonite brand, Maldonado will represent Hammer and Williams will represent Columbia 300.

Watch the 2019 PBA Hall of Fame Classic starting this Thursday LIVE on FloBowling

Although he has yet to win a PBA title, Johnson, 26, is considered a rising star on the tour. He’s a four-time member of Team USA and helped the United States win the gold medal in team event at the 2017 World Championships.

Johnson has several second-place finishes on the PBA Tour, including finishing runner-up at the 2015 USBC Masters in his first year on tour. As the top seed, Johnson lost in the championship match to Jason Belmonte, 202-157.

A two-hander from Houston, Maldonado, 32, joined the PBA Tour in 2013 and has more than $227,000 in earnings over that stretch. He finished fifth in the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship with DJ Archer for his best finish in 2018.

One of Maldonado’s biggest career finishes came at the 2016 U.S. Open, when he finished third. Maldonado lost in the semifinal match after eventual champion Francois Lavoie fired a 300 game at him.

Williams, 25, a hard-throwing two-handed lefty, made his first career championship round appearance in 2018, losing to Marshall Kent, 218-210, in the semifinal of the Go Bowling! 60thAnniversary Classic.

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