at the end of the third quarter but the German side started chipping away at the lead, and when Aliaksandr Kudrautsau missed two free throws with 14 seconds left to the final buzzer and Minsk up 72-70, very unpleasant memories surfaced in the collective mind of the 4,200-strong home crowd.

The hosts had let a lead slip away towards the end of regulation in last week's clash with Okapi Aalstar, then effectively allowed the Belgians to take the game to overtime and eventually lost after a second extra period, 91-87.

Those were the emotions the few faithful fans that made their way to the Forum of Aalst on Tuesday, to cheer on their favourite team despite the recent string of bad results in the Ethias League, must have gone throughin quick succession.

The hosts almost failed to turn up for the start of the game while Oldenburg came out guns blazing, to sweep the first quarter 31-12.

To everyone's surprise though, the same team that seemed absent from the encounter during the first 10 minutes, went on a 31-16 run in the second quarter and had almost balanced proceedings by the half-time interval, 47-43.

But whatever hopes the local fans nurtured during the break started evaporating soon, as the German side scored 30 points again in the third quarter, and extended the lead to 11.

Oldenburg did not take their foot off the gas until the end, while Aalstar gradually abandoned all hope and allowed their guests to score at will, until they produced the highest output in the EuroChallenge this