By Zoran Milosavljevic
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Barcelona got their Euroleague campaign back on track while Laboral Kutxa Vitoria moved closer to the competition's Final Four after the two Spanish sides enjoyed contrasting wins over their rivals on Friday.
Twice former winners Barca outclassed Lokomotiv Krasnodar 92-66 away to even their best-of-five quarter-final series at 1-1 while Laboral took a 2-0 lead against Panathinaikos after an 82-78 overtime home win over the Greek giants.
The series move to Barcelona and Athens, respectively, next week. In the other two quarter-final match-ups, Fenerbahce Istanbul are 2-0 up against holders Real Madrid and CSKA Moscow lead Red Star Belgrade by the same score.
The playoff winners advance to the May 13-15 Final Four in Berlin.
Smarting from a 66-61 defeat in game one, Barcelona produced a vintage performance to silence a passionate Russian crowd after nailing 16 three-pointers from 26 attempts.
Juan Carlos Navarro, the competition's all-time leading scorer, led Barcelona with 18 points, as four of his team mates also finished in double-scoring digits.
Barcelona, who squeezed into the knockout stage after a patchy regular season, will now be favourites to reach the Final Four as they are at home in the next two games.
"We were much more aggressive than in game one and played with a lot of rhythm," said Barcelona's Czech guard Tomas Satoransky, who had 13 points.
"Our bench provided plenty of depth but we still have a lot of respect for Lokomotiv, who are a very physical team and play strong defence," he added. "We just have to keep going."
Laboral spilled an eight-point lead in the final minute of regular time but prevailed in the additional five minutes as guard Darius Adams led the way with a game-high 24 points.
The playoffs continue on Monday with Red Star at home to CSKA.
(Editing By Martyn Herman) OLGBSPORT Reuters UK Online Report Sports News 20160415T212459+0000