It was intended to be an easy, diplomatic trip to promote goodwill between the world’s two superpowers and to provide the Georgetown men’s basketball team with some early exhibition games.

Instead, the journey proved as difficult as scaling the Great Wall.

A violent, bench-clearing, game-ending brawl in a contest against the Chinese Basketball Association’s Bayi Rockets cast a massive shadow over the Hoyas’ tour of China this summer. Fists, feet and chairs flew as the sporting representative of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army came to blows with one of the United States’ premier college teams.

The brawl raised doubts about everything from Georgetown’s toughness to the stability of Sino-Americanrelations in the 21st century. And while Head Coach John Thompson III and the Hoyas realized the seriousness of the situation, most found a silver lining.

“Being a part of that, going through that experience, I do think that has helped expedite the coming-together process of this team,” Thompson III said. “Quite literally, they realize that you’ve got to have each other’s back.”

Thompson III was not the only one to recognize the potential benefits of an otherwise ugly situation. Senior center Henry Sims was among several Hoyas who echoed the coach’s assertion that the fight had, in fact, brought the team closer together.

“It’s good to know somebody’s in your corner if something goes down,” Sims said.

Many questions remain about the nature of the fight. The grainy internet videos leaked from the event seem to expose the Rockets as the primary instigators of violence, and the foul shot numbers indicate a game blatantly refereed in favor of the home team. Still, the situation was resolved rapidly and diplomatically with Georgetown extending an olive branch the morning after the melee.

Although the brawl was handled as well as could be expected from a public relations perspective, it still overshadowed an otherwise successful tour. The Hoyaswon every game they finished — no small feat, considering that they played exclusively professional teams — by an average of nearly 20 points per game.

The Blue and Gray showed off a balanced scoring attack with several players posting double figures in each game but no one eclipsing the 20-point mark. Seasoned veterans like junior forward Hollis Thompson and senior guard Jason Clark shared the scoring load with two highly touted incoming freshmen, forward Otto Porter and guard JabrilTrawick. Perhaps the most impressive performance came in the Hoyas’ first game, when they played against the ShanxiZhongyu Brave Dragons. Porter led six players in double figures with 16 points, and Georgetown nearly reached the century mark in a 98-81 victory.

The team appeared to enjoy themselves off the court, touring the Great Wall, Old Shanghai and Tiananmen Square, among other sites. Thompson also hosted a clinic for Chinese high school coaches at the Nike Festival of Sport.

“It was fun,” Clark said. “It was an experience. We had a good time together, a good time spending time with each other.”

The Hoyas undoubtedly wish the fight with the Rockets hadn’t marred their trip, but the bonding experience against China’s physical professional teams will help to prepare them for play in the Big East — which, at least for this season, is still the toughest conference in basketball. For a young team missing several key players from last year, that experience was essential.

“We’re going to be much different this year, and we’re going to lean on the incoming guys a lot,” Coach Thompson said. “From that perspective, the trip was invaluable.”