Article by David Istrate – published on Saturday, June 14, 2025, 07:57 / Updated on Saturday, June 14, 2025 08:00
U-BT Cluj-Napoca won the match 5 of the National League final, score 68-67 against CSM Oradea, and became the Romanian champion for the 5th consecutive season. About half an hour after the final whistle, Mihai Silvășan, the coach of the black and white, called this title as the most difficult of the career.
Although she was seen a clear favorite when winning the title, U-BT Cluj-Napoca had a complicated 2024-2025 season, with many defeats internally and eliminating from the Romanian Cup in the quarter -finals phase.
The “students” looked much better in the playoff and passed without emotions of “quarters” and semifinals, but the final tested it seriously. CSM Oradea looked excellent, had an aggressive defense game and with many solutions in attack, and returned from 0-1, taking over: 2-1.
Mihai Silvășan, after the 5th consecutive title: “The hardest in my career”
In the decisive match, played in Oradea Arena, U-BT Cluj-Napoca was imposed with 68-67, After a basket of Zavier Simpson and a missing in the last seconds of Kris Richard. The holiday followed in the room that was filled to the refusal by the supporters of the two rivals.
About half an hour after the final whistle, Mihai Silvășan, the coach of the winner, came in front of the journalists and tried to express his thoughts after one of the most difficult seasons of the career:
“I am extremely tired and I need rest, first of all. I want to congratulate my team for the character and resilience they have shown in many times, in this final and throughout the season“, Silvășan started, before moving on to the supporters who chanted his name.
“I want to thank the fans, who, actually, were body and soul with us in this final, culminating with the match 4 from us, where they took us to a victory. They were also wonderful in this match, in which they came in large numbers and supported us. I felt from the beginning to the end,”
Mihai Silvășan, after the 6th title as head coach
Silvășan won the 6th title of the coach's career and made an insurring disclosure:
“I want to congratulate the opponent, he showed a great desire to fight, he was a good competitor. I am a happy coach. I'm glad we managed to win this title, probably the hardest in my coach's career. It's the 6th to the active and this was the hardest. It is never easy to win on the opponent's field a decisive match.
But that's what I told the players before the match-not to run away from the hard things in life, because the hard things make you better and give you greater satisfaction. I think that each of these players who have evolved today or who have been on the bench and have not evolved have a lot to learn from this final and will be better basketball players and better people after this series, ”said Cluj.
Resilience, the key word to U-BT: “I am very proud of these players”
During the decisive match, CSM Oradea led for more than 30 minutes, while U-BT Cluj-Napoca had the advantage of less than 3 minutes. The black and white, however, did not give up at any time and, in the last minutes, have recovered an 8-point deficit:
“First of all, you must have valuable players to understand what a final means, understand the pressure of a match and have the courage to make decisions and make good phases both in attack and defense. Obviously, much resilience to all the problems we had, much character,” explained this situation for GSP.ro.
“I am very proud of these players and I think after this season they made me a much better coach than I was before“He concluded.
Due to this victory, Mihai Silvășan kept his balance sheet in final victories immaculate. As head coach of U-BT Cluj-Napoca, in the period 2016-2025, he led his team in 15 finals and won them all: 6 in the championship, 5 in the Romanian Cup, 4 in the Romanian Super Cup.
