The Turkish side secured the top spot in the group
Bahcesehir rallies against Trefl to win Group A
Bahcesehir College Istanbul came back from an 18-point deficit to beat Trefl Sopot 76-81 on Wednesday night. This win improved Bahcesehir's record to a 13-3 and clinched first place in Group A with three games to go, while already-eliminated Trefl dropped 1-14 on the season.
Trefl made 7 of its first 11 three-point attempts to open a 43-25 lead, but Bahcesehir halved the deficit before halftime and then erased the rest in the third quarter, before pulling out the win in the final minutes.
Jaleen Smith paced the winners with 25 points and 9 rebounds, Tai Odiase scored 20 points and Tyler Cavanaugh added 12 in the victory. Nick Johnson netted 18 points for the hosts, Aaron Best had 13 , Geoffrey Groselle 12 and Mikolaj Witlinski 11 in a losing effort.
Game Videos
Smith and Best opened the game trading triples, but then Nahiem Alleyne and Johnson hit back-to-back long-range shots for the hosts to open an 11-7 lead. Kenan Sipahi had a jumper and Odiase a put-back layup to keep the visitors close, but Alleyne knocked down another three. Then Johnson scored 4 more points as Trefl scored the last 9 points of the first quarter to take a 24-13 lead.
Groselle and Johnson made it 28-13 in the second before Cavanaugh snapped a 13-0 run, ending Bahcesehir’s scoring drought of almost 6 minutes. Smith’s driving layup cut it to 30-19, but Johnson and Jakub Schenk made a triple apiece, with Best hitting a short jumper in between to make it 38-21. A three-pointer from Jaroslaw Zyskowski, Trefl’s seventh of the night, increased the margin to 18 points. But Axel Bouteille drained a three and Odiase had a three-point play to spark a 0-7 run that Bahcesehir used to finish the first half and cut the deficit to 45-37.
Best opened the third quarter with a triple, but Sipahi and Smith scored the next 6 points to close the gap to 48-43 before back-to-back threes from Cavanaugh cut it to 50-49. Trefl struggled offensively, but Schenk scored inside to make it 54-49. However, Odiase’s three-point play tied it before a pair of baskets from Furkan Korkmaz gave the visitors a 54-58 lead. Schenk to finished the quarter by sinking 3 foul shots to make it a single-point affair going into the fourth quarter.
A triple from Best tied it at 60-60 and the teams traded blows with a Best-to-Johnson alley-oop dunk giving the hosts a 66-64 lead. But the visitors scored the next 8 points, with back-to-back triples from Sehmus Hazer and Smith giving Bahcesehir a 66-72 advantage. Johnson scored from the outside and Groselle twice from the inside to tie the game at 74-74 entering the final 2 minutes. Smith made a tough runner in a crowd in the final minute and Bouteille got a lucky bounce on a tough baseline jumper with 30 seconds left to make it 74-78. Groselle’s dunk gave the hosts hope, but Smith’s free throws sealed the outcome.