Guo Haowen scores career-high 42 points but Nanjing fall to Guangdong 107-102 in overtime

Dongguan served up a vintage night of CBA competition on Sunday. The evening featured high drama, intense physicality and a late return to form for 11‑time league champions the Guangdong Southern Tigers, who edged the Nanjing Monkey Kings 107-102 in overtime in their season opener, despite a career-high 42 points from Guo Haowen.

Guangdong set the tone early with a textbook defensive‑to‑offensive sequence, as Wang Shaojie's block led to Xu Jie feeding Hu Mingxuan for a fastbreak layup, extending the home side's early edge to 14-11.

Xu, who later set up Jared Sullinger for a three-pointer that pushed the lead into double digits, was forced out of the game just before halftime. The 25-year-old was not able to properly cushion his fall after successfully contesting Wu Tingjia's three-point attempt and left the game early with a broken brow bone.

Nanjing battled back after the break. Guo cut into the deficit with a relentless scoring onslaught, including six triples, before finding Brady Manek for a floater that flipped the scoreboard, giving the Monkey Kings a brief 80-79 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Guo's floater in the lane bounced off the rim in the closing seconds of regulation, however, and the contest headed to overtime with the two teams knotted at 94-94.

The extra session belonged to the Southern Tigers. Edmond Sumner drove repeatedly to the rim, converting a couple of crucial buckets on his way to 26 points. He also dished to Zhang Wenyi for a corner three that put the result beyond reach. The hosts went on to win by five and will visit the Zhejiang Golden Bulls on Tuesday.