Georgetown Hoyas in Fight with CBA's Bayi Rockets

Earlier today, or later today, depending on how you want to look at it, the Georgetown men's basketball team was involved in a brawl in China. The team was playing an exhibition against the Bayi Rockets, a Chinese Basketball Association team made up of players who serve in the People's Liberation Army (Chinese military). The game, however, was cut short when a melee erupted with the score tied at 64.

The Hoyas out-fouled the Rockets 28-11 in the first half. As a Georgetown fan present states:

The whole thing came undone in the third. About two minutes in, the ridiculously lopsided foul calls continued (we were in the bonus again 2 1/2 minutes in) and the first real shoving match kicked off over a loose ball. The players on the court separated each other pretty quickly, but then the craziest thing I've ever seen happened- one of the Bayi big men got in JT3's face and almost took a swing. He was so shocked he didn't know what to do. So that upped the ante a bit.

Then the foul calls truly took on a comical dimension. We supposedly fouled them every time down the court, despite some really good defense on some possessions. There were four or five intentional fouls called, giving them four shots each time down the court. JT3 was called for a technical for stepping over the line onto the court. I counted Bayi scoring two field goals in the entire third quarter.

The Washington Post has the details:

Immediately before the fighting began, Bayi forward-center Hu Ke was called for a foul against Georgetown’s Jason Clark. The senior guard clearly took exception to the hard foul and said so to Hu, trigger[ing] an exchange of shoves.

Hu is 6'10". Clark is 6'2" on a good day. The benches cleared. Chairs were thrown. Fans began to storm the court.

A woman sitting in the Georgetown fan section directly behind the bench implored Chinese police to try to calm the situation, saying someone was going to get hurt. The Chinese police had been watching the tensions escalate to the point of physical confrontations but made no attempts to break up any of the fights taking place on the court.

This was an incredibly dangerous situation for a bunch of young men (kids, really), alumni, and Georgetown coaches and assistants. Coach Thompson managed to arrange an organized escape to the buses without the help of police.

Before anyone was seriously hurt, Thompson said, “We’re outta here,” and pointed toward the tunnel behind the Hoyas bench leading underneath the stands.

As Thompson and his staff summoned players together and began escorting them off the court, the group had to dodge plastic water bottles being hurled from the stands. Once they reached the safety of the locker room, the team immediately gathered all its equipment and headed for the buses outside.

Members of the Hoyas staff were trying to find a police escort for the entire Georgetown contingent, including alumni and supporters who attended the game as part of a 10-day tour of China, fearing reprisals from Chinese fans. But rather than wait, Thompson told everyone to walk to the buses together.

Disgusting.

Here's a link to the video if you'd like to see Clark essentially get jumped by two Bayi players, followed by bedlam.