They have both won 10 titles at the New Zealand open championships and Lawson was hoping to win his 11th title tomorrow.
But the Belfast bowler was eliminated in post-section play in cliffhangers in the singles and pairs.
Lawson's demise in the two events was the big upset of yesterday's post-section play.
But he still has a chance of claiming the elusive 11th title in the fours that start on Thursday.
Lawson (45), who was hoping to make the national championships his springboard back into the Black Jacks, lost his second-round singles game in a thriller to Adam McIlroy (Clark's Beach) 21-19.
He had beaten Glenn Newton (Clark's Beach) 21-13 in the first-round game.
It did not get any better for Lawson and partner Chris Le Lievre, who lost the pairs quarterfinal to the composite pair of Blake Signal and Alvin Gardiner 15-14.
Lawson is expected to have a better chance in the fours because he and Le Lievre are joined by Black Jacks Richard Girvan and Dan Delany.
Girvan and Delany were in the silver medal-winning New Zealand men's four at the Asia-Pacific championships in Adelaide last month. Lawson would like to join them in the four for World Bowls in Adelaide in October.
Signal and Gardiner, the giant-killers in the pairs, will face the formidable father and son combination of Neville and Jamie Hill (Auckland) in the semifinals today. The Hills beat Tony Marinkovich and Brian Wilson (Brown's Bay) 25-20 in the quarterfinals.
The other semifinal in the pairs is between the composite team of former Dunedin bowler Steve Beel and Shane Pascoe and the Stoke combination of Peter Hodson and James Pugh.
Other top players still alive in the men's singles are Sydney-based Richard Girvan, Dan Delany (Onehunga), 1998 champion Kelvin Scott (Papanui) and Gardiner who is on target to reach the finals of the singles and pairs.
The finalists in the women's singles are Mandy Boyd (Johnsonville) and Sandra Keith (Leeston) who reached the semifinals in Dunedin last year.
Laurence Moore (North East Valley) was the only Otago bowler to win a post-section game at the championships. He beat Jim Gould (Tawa) 21-18 before losing to Geoff Bovey (Tawa) 21-13 in the second round.
All the other Otago post-section contenders were eliminated in the first round.
Sue Hodges (Outram) was beaten in the women's singles by Dale Lang (Johnsonville) 21-17.
In the men's singles, New Zealand development squad member Mark Watt (North East Valley) was beaten by John Brooks (Thames Coast) 21-16 and Craig Ellis (North East Valley) was beaten by Ross Haresnape (Browns Bay) 21-11.
The best performance came from Kelvin Budge (North East Valley) who lost to Kevin Robinson (Maungaturoto) 21-18.
