Jilin Northeast Tigers beat Ningbo Rockets to end 4-game losing streak

The Jilin Northeast Tigers defeated the Ningbo Rockets 116-114 in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, on Thursday, ending their four-game losing streak.

The home team lacked their ace Dominique Jones due to injury, but they had Tomas Kyzlink to go to for both scoring and playmaking on the night. The Czech guard had a nearly perfect game after shooting 9-for-10 from the field to drop team-high 30 points and 15 assists in addition to three steals.

Kyzlink contributed 11 points and seven assists in the first quarter alone, enabling Jilin to outscore Ningbo 37-27. As he continued to knock down shots from downtown in the second quarter, his side saw their advantage grow to a maximum of 21 points at 60-39.

However, Jordan Howard, Wang Zirui and Wang Junjie stepped up for Ningbo and drained a series of triples, cutting their deficit to 11 points, 70-59, before the halftime break. Though Kyzlink was still unstoppable in charging the paint in the second half, he was gradually outnumbered after Mangok Mathiang joined his Ningbo teammates to rattle the rim.

After Luo Kaiwen knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the game, Ningbo were only two points behind at 111-109 with 19 seconds left. The team fouled on Cui Jinming and Jiang Weize to stop the clock. Though Wang Junjie and Wang Zirui both made their jumpers to score five points for the visitors in the final moments, Cui and Jiang missed only five of their six attempts at the free throw line, making sure that Jilin didn't suffer their fifth consecutive loss.

In the other game on the night, the Beikong Royal Fighters beat the Nanjing Monkey Kings 107-103 in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, for their second win in a row.

Beikong led by as many as 14 points, 48-34, in the first half, thanks to the dominant performance of Grant Riller. Nonetheless, Ty Leaf led his teammates to continuously attack the visitors' rim in the second half for Nanjing to gain the lead 89-88 early in the fourth quarter. Zou Yuchen stepped up for Beikong in this quarter with solid finishing work under the hoop and put the team back on lead.

At the end of the quarter, Zhao Baiqing kept making shots behind the arc to keep the game alive for Nanjing, they failed to come back eventually and suffered their third straight loss.