OOSTENDE, (Basketball Champions League) - Telenet Oostende, who competed in the FIBA Europe Cup in its inaugural season and are poised to take part in the inaugural Basketball Champions League next season, lifted on Wednesday night their fifth consecutive Belgian Scooore! League trophy.

Oostende defeated Okapi Aalstar 74-69 on the road in Game 4 of the best-of-five finals to clinch the series 3-1 and celebrate the domestic double, as they had also won the Belgian Cup title earlier in the year.

In the finals decider on Wednesday, Oostende got off to a fantastic start and raced to a 41-32 lead by the half-time interval. Aalstar however, propelled by their enthusiastic home crowd and some inspired plays by Jerime Anderson, turned the tables around and went on a 14-3 run bridging the final two quarters to jump ahead 65-57 with a little over six minutes remaining to play.

It was at that point that Oostende decided they would prefer to lift the trophy in Aalst rather than at home and Pierre-Antoine Gillet sunk a big triple to stop the rot. Big man Rasko Katic followed up by hitting three jumpers in quick succession to restore Oostende in the driver's seat, 70-67, going into the final 90 seconds of action.

The defending champions held on until the final buzzer to seal the deal as Katic finished with 25 points on a superb 12-of-15 from two-point range and added four rebounds and two steals. In addition to the former Serbian international, Kyle Gibson was the other Oostende player to score in double digits as he picked up 13 points while Anderson had 24 points in a losing effort.

Oostende had commenced their title defence by securing first place in the regular season on a 23-5 record and, consequently, home-court advantage throughout the play-off race. They dispatched Liege Basket 2-0 in the quarter-finals but were made to work hard in the semi-final series as Limburg United won twice forced Game 5. Gibson and Katic poured in 19 and 15 points, respectively, and Oostende prevailed 89-75 in the deciding fifth game to advance to the finals.

Oostende commenced the title series on a 79-65 victory at home, behind a 25-point showing by Gibson, but Aalstar came up with a resounding reply in Game 2 on their home court as they handed the defending champions their biggest loss in the post-season, 84-66.

With the series returning to Oostende for Game 3, the yellow-blacks regrouped remarkably fast and Katic dropped 19 points to lead the hosts to an 84-70 win and a 2-1 series lead which in effect cemented their title conquest.

This was Oostende's 17th league crown overall since they started collecting this particular brand of silverware in 1981, while they also have 17 domestic cup trophies in their impressive collection.

FIBA