Played for time

• Not going anywhere
• Used delaying tactics
• Put off the inevitable
• Stopped suddenly, as an engine
• Temporarily conked out
• At a standstill
• Sputtered, as an engine
• Came to a temporary standstill

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
vb. (en-past of: stall )

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stalled \Stalled\ (st[add]ld or st[add]l"[e^]d), a. Put or kept in a stall; hence, fatted. ``A stalled ox.'' --Prov. xv. 17.