LAS VEGAS — The team of Norm Duke of Clermont, Fla., and Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, defeated the team of Sean Rash of Montgomery, Ill., and Ronnie Russell of Marion, Ind., to take the Mark Roth-Marshall Holman PBA Doubles Championship title Sunday at South Point Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.

In a Baker-format stepladder finals, Duke/Malott finished with a score of 193 to Rash/Russell’s 167. Duke/Malott bowled on cruise control for much of the game, taking a sizable early lead when Rash opened both the first and third frames, while Russell failed to convert a 10 pin spare in the fourth.

But after Malott opened the eighth frame, Rash/Russell rallied with a clutch double in the eighth and ninth. In the 10th frame, however, Russell’s first ball sailed past the headpin to leave the 1-2-4-8 in a losing effort.

"I've regrouped, and I've reset my goals overall as I did when I was coming up and got to that Player of the Year status," Malott said after the win. "Making TV is my number one goal, and once I get to TV win a match. I did that. And from there it's going to be win a title again. For all that to come together at one time is pretty substantial for me.

This is the seventh PBA title of Malott's career and the 35th for Duke, who surpassed Mark Roth in career titles and now sits tied for third place with Pete Weber on the all-time PBA titles list. Incidentally, Roth happened to be in attendance along with Marshall Holman as they watched the finalists compete in a tournament named after them. Both joined Malott and Duke for the trophy presentation.

"Talk about a dream day," Duke said of surpassing Roth on the all-time titles list. "To have Marshall and Mark standing on the approach with you, those two individuals were my absolute idols. I've surpassed them in titles, but that doesn't mean that I think that I am better than they were. They are still icons. Mark Roth changed the world of bowling much like Jason Belmonte and Osku (Palermaa) may in the future."

This is the first event of the 2011 World Series of Bowling in which an American player has won a title.

In the semifinal match, Duke/Malott defeated the team of Mike Fagan of Dallas and Bill O’Neill of Southampton, Pa., 260-245. Fagan/O’Neill strung together the first six strikes, but O’Neill left the 2-10 split in the seventh for an open frame. Malott/Duke never allowed their opponents back in the game, as they closed out the match with eight consecutive strikes.

Fagan/O’Neill had previously defeated the team of Andres Gomez of Colombia and Martin Larsen of Sewden, 194-173, to advance to the semifinal.

The most thrilling match came in the opener, which ended in a tie between Fagan/O’Neill and the team of Jason Belmonte of Australia and Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo.  When O’Neill opened the door with an eight count in the 10th frame and missed the spare, Weber struck out in the 10th to tie the game in a fiery performance, slamming down his sunglasses and shouting as Belmonte leaped out onto the approach to hug him.

In the one-ball, sudden-death roll-off, O’Neill threw a strike and Belmonte faltered with an eight count as Fagan/O’Neill moved on.