Hoyas game in Beijing ends early after fight breaks out

Update 5: John Thompson III, Jason Clark, and Hollis Thompson met with the Bayi Rockets coach and two players on Friday. According to a press release, it was an “amicable gathering.” Also, Vox received confirmation from Georgetown Sports Information Director Mex Carey that the Hoyas will not be playing the Rockets again on Sunday. That game was changed even before the two teams met on Thursday, although the schedule was not updated until afterwards. Sunday’s opponent will be the Liaoning Dinosaurs.

Update 4: WJLA has new, better quality video of the game, and it looks like the team is heading on to Shanghai as planned.

Update 3: Eric Cheng (COL ’13) was at the game and sent Vox an account of what he saw.

Update 2: Sportsgrid has obtained video of the brawl, which is posted after the jump.

Update: The Washington Post‘s Gene Wang, who is in Beijing with the team, has a complete story on what went down.

After touching down in China on Saturday, the Georgetown men’s basketball team’s two week tour of the country got off to an auspicious start with a number of cultural excursions and an exhibition victory over the Shanxi Dragons, complete with visit from Joe Biden. However, things took a turn for the worse in their game Thursday against the Bayi Rockets.

The game, which began at 5:30 p.m. local time in Beijing (5:30 a.m. ET) ended abruptly in the fourth quarter after a fight broke out on the court and fans began throwing bottles at the team, according to the Washington Post’s Gene Wang.

Accounts of the game have been appearing online from Georgetown supporters who were there in Beijing, including a lengthy account originally posted on Hoyatalk. Chinese language site SINA also has a recap of the game, along with a gallery of pictures (including the one of Jason Clark in this post) that make it clear this was no small altercation.

“Tonight, two great teams played a very competitive game that unfortunately ended after heated exchanges with both teams. We sincerely regret that this situation occurred,” head coach John Thompson III said in a statement released after the game. “We remain grateful for the opportunity our student-athletes are having to engage in a sport they love here in China, while strengthening their understanding of a nation we respect and admire at Georgetown University.”

The competitive nature of the game has been called into question by the fan accounts of the game posted online. On Hoyatalk one poster described the officiating as “comical,” with increasingly questionable foul calls, to the point that the Rockets were shooting free throws nearly every time down the court heading into the four quarter. Based on updates from the official HoyasinChina Twitter feed, it appears that the Hoyas were leading or tied for most of the game despite the officiating.

The Bayi Rockets are a member of the Chinese Basketball Association, but they are affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army. All Rockets players serve in the PLA. The Hoyas are scheduled to play a rematch against the Rockets on Sunday in Shanghai. There’s no word yet on the status of that game.

We’ll update this post as more information emerges from China.

Eric Cheng (COL ’13) was at the game with a group of Georgetown underclassmen, and he shared his account of the events with Vox via email. Cheng and his friends arrived at the game at halftime, but it didn’t take long for them to see the game was becoming out of control. Below is an excerpt from Cheng’s email: