Euroleague.net
Belgian champion Telenet Ostend targets its first taste of Europe's premier competition in more than a decade when it enters the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds. Ostend won the Belgian League and Cup double last season with Matt Lojeski playing a starring role and earning league MVP honors.
Ostend also made its second straight Eurocup performance, but this season is aiming higher. The club was founded in 1970 and has been amongst the winningest in Belgian basketball. Ostend needed just nine years to win its first title, the Belgian Cup, and that was just the beginning of its golden age. Before that, Ostend made its debut in European competitions in 1974-75 and reached the Korac Cup group stage. Ostend dominated Belgian basketball in the 1980s with seven league titles – including six straight from 1981-86 – and five Belgium Cups. The next decade started strong with another Belgian Cup triumph in 1991. It won the league in 1995 and the cup in 1997 and 1998 before it turned its attention to European competition and climbed to the 1999 Korac Cup semifinals. As soon as Telindus became the main sponsor of the team, Ostend again got to the top domestically by winning back-to-back Belgian League titles in 2001 and 2002 and another Belgian Cup. Euroleague and ULEB Cup appearances followed, though without any major runs. More league titles in 2006 and 2007 marked another peak for the club and Ostend claimed the Belgian Cup in 2008 and 2010. In 2010-11, Ostend competed for all three titles available, as it reached the FIBA EuroChallenge final four and at home advanced to the Belgian League semifinals and the Belgian Cup finals. Despite hosting the EuroChallenge final four, Ostend lost against Krka in the semifinals, four days after being defeated by Mons in the Belgian Cup title game. Two years ago, Ostend returned to the Eurocup by surviving the qualifying round against Norrkoping Dolphins. A tough regular season group featuring Valencia Basket, Asvel Basket and Lukoil Academic proved to be too strong for Ostende. But Ostend remained tough in the Belgian League and topped Spirou Charleroi in a thrilling five-game series behind Lojeski's late heroics to lift the trophy for the first time since 2007. Last season Ostend won two of its first three Eurocup games, but stumbled after that and narrowly missed the Last 16. Again the club rebounded and dominated its domestic competitions to claim its first double since 2001. After that season, Ostende played the Euroleague, which is exactly what the club plans to do this time.
Source
http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/114619