EUROLEAGUE – Caja Laboral put the shackles on CSKA; wins for Prokom, Partizan and Barca

VITORIA (Euroleague) - Caja Laboral and Asseco Prokom stayed alive in the Euroleague Quarter-Finals while Regal Barcelona and Partizan Belgrade seized 2-1 leads in their respective series.
 
Brazil center Tiago Splitter had 15 points, seven rebounds and three steals to lead Caja Laboral to a 66-53 win over CSKA Moscow.
 
Dusko Ivanovic's team lost the first two clashes of the tie in Moscow and headed to the fourth quarter of Tuesday's Game 3 in Vitoria clinging to a 42-41 lead but then outscored CSKA 24-12.
 
No CSKA player reached double figures in scoring and coach Evgeny Pashutin felt Caja Laboral's style of defense was the reason why.
 
"The opponents demonstrated a high level of physical contact from the very beginning, with a lot of grabbing, fouls," he said.
 
"I compared Game 2 with an ice hockey game, and this game reminded me of rugby. It's okay: I am not complaining. That's normal for the play-offs, we should be ready, but we weren't."
 
Caja Laboral also dominated on the boards, winning that battle, 42-30.
 
"We could not catch the tempo," Pashutin said.
 
"We were out of rhythm offensively.
 
"We also allowed our opponents to dominate in rebounds, especially in the first quarter when their guards took a lot of rebounds off our glass."
 
One of those guards was Carl English.
 
The Canada international played more than 29 minutes and finished with six points and six rebounds.
 
Walter Hermann, a gold-medal winner with Argentina at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, is back in Spain after a three-year stint in the NBA where he played with Charlotte and Detroit.
 
He had 10 points for Caja Laboral.
 
"We will give our best in the next game," he said.
 
"Our target is to play the same good defense we played this time.
 
"We dream of taking the series to Game 5 back in Russia."
 
Russia international Viktor Khyrapa had nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in defeat.
 
Asseco Prokom also trail Olympiacos 2-1 after scraping an 81-78 victory in Gdynia.
 
Qyntel Woods and Daniel Ewing had 18 points apiece and Poland international David Logan poured in 15 for Prokom, one of the surprise teams in the Euroleague this season.
 
Germany international Jan-Hendrik Jagla had a great game as well with 10 points and nine rebounds.
 
For Olympiacos, Josh Childress scored 20 points and Serbia point guard Milos Teodosic poured in 12 while also handing out nine assists.
 
Partizan Belgrade rode a strong start to an 81-73 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv at the Belgrade Arena.
 
Dusko Vujosevic's team, which upset Maccabi in Game 1 in Israel, are now just a win away from the Final Four.
 
Australia international Aleks Maric had 16 points and seven rebounds and rising Czech star Jan Vesely poured in 14 and hauled in six boards.
 
Partizan stormed into a 26-17 lead by the end of the first quarter and with their fanatical supporters cheering them on, the Serbian club stormed to victory.
 
Maccabi coach Pini Gershon had spoken of trying to win two games in Belgrade but now his side is on the verge of elimination.
 
"The home-court advantage in Belgrade is worth eight points to Partizan, and that was exactly the margin," Gershon said.
 
"But I am still optimistic. Partizan is not so much a better team than we are and Maccabi has the chance to win on Thursday."
 
Barcelona didn't stop Ante Tomic in Game 3 with the Croatian center scoring 23 points but they still prevailed 84-73 after getting a combined seven three-pointers from Juan Carlos Navarro and Jaka Lakovic.
 
Navarro has had his struggles of late but the Spain guard erupted for a game-high 24 points at the Vistalegre, drilling four of six from long range.
 
Slovenia national team point guard Lakovic buried three of four shots from behind the arc and finished with 13 points.
 
"It was a radical change for us compared with Game 2," Navarro said.
 
"We managed to be really focused in the first quarter, to face a showdown like this with the required intensity.
 
"We must try to continue playing that way on Thursday.
 
"I am happy because I managed to recover from a bad moment and because my teammates showed they believe in me."
 
FIBA