The visitors also benefited from an avalanche of offensive boards in a thrilling contest
Malachi Flynn and roster depth carried Bahcesehir past Cluj
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Regular Season
Round 1 of 18
Regular Season
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U-BT Cluj-NapocaUBT
9098
Bahcesehir College IstanbulBKS
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Overview
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Bahcesehir College Istanbul ground out a hard-fought 90-98 win at Romanian outfit U-BT Cluj-Napoca after a concerted team effort saw the visitors prevail in an electrifying atmosphere, with player of the game Malachi Flynn draining 24 points and pulling down 7 rebounds.
Flynn had rock solid support from a deep Bahcesehir roster as all 10 of the visiting team’s players who got minutes on the court made the scoresheet, with Hale Hunter adding 16 points while Ismet Akpinar netted 13.
The experienced Kenan Sipahi, still fresh from winning a silver medal with Turkiye at the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket, chipped in with 11 points, including a pair of clutch three-pointers which ultimately forced the hard-fighting Cluj into submission.
Just as importantly, Bahcesehir’s bench netted almost a half of the team’s points tally, with the visitors thoroughly dominating the paint as they racked up 34 rebounds. A staggering 17 of them came on the offensive end, giving the Turkish team a massive advantage in the paint as Cluj only collected 25 boards and a mere 6 on offense.
Bahcesehir’s head coach Marko Barac felt this team’s performance left something to be desired, but he had no complaints about a sterling effort which helped the Turkish outfit come out on top.
“This team still has a lot of room to improve and I am sure we will grow,” Barac said in a postgame interview. “It’s a completely new roster and much like everybody else, we had a couple of injuries during the preseason.
"The most important thing for me as a coach, however, is to find a way to win even when we’re not playing our A game. Our team’s character made the difference because Cluj are known to be an aggressive team and playing in this kind of atmosphere is never easy.”
Flynn was at the heart of the success as he mixed delightful layups with sound mid-range shooting and a pair of telling efforts from downtown, adding 4 assists for good measure. The 26-year-old American, who joined Bahcesehir during the off-season after five years in the NBA, was appreciative of the good work his teammates had put in.
“It feels great to win in a tough environment and it’s a great start for our team,” he said. “It was a big team effort as every player came in, guys came off the bench and contributed and you never know with our team who’s going to step up to the plate. I think it will be like that throughout the season.”
The defeat left a bitter taste for Cluj head coach Mihai Silvasan, who conceded that his team got punished ruthlessly for being second best in the paint, as well as for poor offense in crunch time.
“We were closing the game for three quarters but in the end we committed some sloppy turnovers and missed some easy shots,” Sivasan said. “We also gave away 17 offensive rebounds to them and it killed us. Obviously we don’t like it, but we need to move forward and focus on the upcoming games.”