The Nanjing Monkey Kings came back to defeat the Ningbo Rockets 126-119 in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Monday, thanks to day-saving performance by home forward Guo Haowen.

Guo joined Nanjing this season after parting ways with the Shanghai Sharks and he proved to be of great help for his new employer. He averaged 23.3 points in the first three games for Nanjing and Ningbo didn't seem to have any clue how to slow him down.

Having gone 4-for-7 from the field in the second quarter, Guo got nine points within eight minutes. The opponents soon had a bitter taste of his scoring explosiveness again in the third when he made two field goals (FGs) and six free throws to contribute 11 points in eight minutes.

Despite Guo's remarkable work, Nanjing trailed by nine points, 109-100, when there were five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Guo was then sent to the court and knocked down a key 3-pointer to tie the game 114-114 with 71 seconds left. Then during overtime, he and Zeng Fanri made six straight free throws for their side to secure their third win out of the past five games. Guo had court-high 31 points in addition to nine rebounds.

In the other game on the night, the Zhejiang Lions beat the Sichuan Blue Whales 118-107 in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, extending both their winning streak and the opponents losing streak to five.

Zhejiang sat on a nine-point lead, 32-23, after the first quarter and extended their advantage to 19 points, 98-79, after knocking down a series of triples in the third quarter. Though Sichuan worked hard to try to reverse the situation in the fourth, they were shut down in the final three minutes when the visitors put their starters back on the court.

Zhejiang's two big men, Nathan Knight and Hu Jinqiu, combined to drop 52 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Their teammate Sun Minghui contributed 20 points and seven assists.