Wes Malott (pictured left), the hottest player in professional bowling, used a combination of soaring confidence and a never quit attitude to take the lead into Friday night's final Round of match play in the Professional Bowlers Association's H&R Block Tournament of Champions at Red Rock Lanes.

Malott, who has won two of the last five Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour events and has advanced to the ESPN television finals in five consecutive singles events, won six of his eight matches Friday afternoon and tied in the other two to finish with a 40-game total of 9,864 pins (238.4 average) and a seven-pin lead over Mike Scroggins of Amarillo, Texas.

"I have a lot of confidence right now and I'm getting some key hits to keep the momentum going," the five-time PBA Tour titlist said. "When hits don't go my way, the biggest thing has been to quit whining and do something about it."

That maturity has been the biggest factor in the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Texan's arrival as a star in only his sixth full season as a professional bowler. The 32-year-old Pflugerville, Texas, resident had to remind himself to keep plugging Thursday night after he lost the lead and dropped into fifth place.

"I started match play last night 0-4," he said, "and I asked myself, what are you doing? I stuck with it, figured things out and won my next four matches. That's definitely been the biggest thing about my maturity out here. All of the top coaches tell you to keep trying because you'll always learn something. That's how I approach things now. Even if it looks like I'm not trying, I never give up."

Scroggins, who turned his career around almost exactly a year ago when he swept through four opponents to win the Motel 6 Dick Weber Open, led until the final match of the fifth round.

"I started well, but didn't end too well," the Amarillo, Texas, left-hander said. "The lanes started hooking and I didn't adjust. "

The top 24 will bowl their final eight-game match play round tonight, after which the top four will advance to Sunday's stepladder finals. ESPN will air the finals live at 12:30 p.m. (Eastern, 9:30 a.m. Pacific) on ESPN.

First prize in the tournament is $50,000 plus a two-year Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour exemption.