By Jaime FlorCruz and Xiaoni Chen, CNN

Goodwill game ends in brawl in China

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Match between Georgetown Hoyas men's team and Bayi Rockets ends in violence
• American college team is on a 10-day trip to China intended to promote goodwill
• Visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden watched Georgetown in action a day earlier

Beijing (CNN) -- A goodwill basketball game between a university team from the United States and a local Chinese team in Beijing turned into an ugly brawl Thursday, leaving sports diplomacy with a black-eye.

With the score tied at 64-all and about 10 minutes left of the exhibition game between the Georgetown Hoyas men's team and the Bayi Rockets, several players exchanged blows on court, triggering a bench-clearing melee.

As match organizers struggled to regain order on the court the match was abandoned early, prompting irate Chinese spectators to hurl plastic bottles onto the court as the visitors headed for the locker room.

The American college team is on a 10-day trip to China intended to promote goodwill through sports.

The tour also coincides with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's official visit to China -- Biden had even watched the Hoyas in action against another Chinese team a day earlier.

Surprisingly, few mainstream Chinese media picked up on the fracas. The Yangzi Evening News reported that it was "very physical from the beginning" and the situation deteriorated. "All substitute players from both teams got involved after the brawl broke out," it added.

Tonight, two great teams played a very competitive game that unfortunately ended after heated exchanges with both teams.
--Hoyas coach John Thompson III

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An amateur video posted on video-sharing website YouTube showed one Chinese player pushing a U.S. player to the ground before punching him repeatedly.

YouTube clip shows on-court fracas

The Bayi Rockets are an army team which plays in the China Basketball Association, the local professional league. Most of their players serve in the People's Liberation Army.

CNN could not reach the Bayi Rockets for comment.

However Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said in a statement: "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."

According to an unnamed U.S. source, four Bayi Rockets players visited the Georgetown team in their hotel in Beijing Friday morning and "have worked things out." No reporters were present at the meeting.

The brawl drew comments on Chinese social media, with links to video posted on Chinese websites. However, some of the video postings were deleted without explanation.

Many comments criticized players from the Bayi Rockets. "(The players') Basketball skills are not very hot but their temper is hot", said @alesfu on Tencent Weibo, China's second largest social media service. @Chinanoe wrote, "Most of sports men have muscular limbs with simple mind."

For decades, Chinese sport promoted the slogan "friendship first, competition second." But in recent years, however, competition for prizes, honor and fame has sometimes trumped sportsmanship.

In October last year, an exhibition match between the Chinese and Brazilian national basketball teams ended in a mass fistfight. The next day, the Chinese national federation apologized to Brazil.

China's head coach, Bob Donewald -- an American -- along with three players and three match officials, were suspended for a few games by the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA).