A Chinese victory at Beijing Capital Gymnasium on Friday was overshadowed by what was arguably Chinese Basketball's most shameful night as the referee abandoned their match against Puerto Rico after a mass brawl broke out on court at the ongoing Stankovic Cup.

The Puerto Rico players cover their heads while making their way to the locker room after their game against China in the Stankovic Cup was abandoned due to a mass brawl in the last quarter. China were announced winners 91-80. [CD]

Li, who was not even playing in the match because of injury, and Mo charged the court to fight the Puerto Rico players with just one minute and 28 seconds left on the clock in a game China were winning comfortably 91-80.

Officials abandoned the game after pushing and fighting between the teams spilled into the stands where fans were beginning to get involved in the violence.

"This is the ugliest scene I have ever experienced in my life," said Wang Kai, a 31-year-old fan who came to the gym with his wife. "The Puerto Rico players have travelled more than 30 hours to come to China and they are our guests. As the host team, how can we treat them with such disdain?"

After several minutes of fighting on and off the court, plastic bottles, drinks, and popcorn rained down on the Puerto Rican players, and with three thousand fans chanting abuse the South Americans made their way to the locker room.

The gym announcer told the crowd the game had been abandoned and pleaded with fans not to throw things.

Although a regular post-match news conference was cancelled, the technical committee of the tournament announced that China won the game 91-80 more than two hours later.

"We accepted the result but we should say sorry to all the fans," an official from the China Basketball association said afterwards.

Many fans were very disappointed about what happened.

"It's a nightmare for me and my wife," said Wang. "I felt so sorry the game had to end this way."

The brawl started when China's Yi went in for a layup and was fouled hard by Puerto Rico centre Manuel Narvaez Events escalated when Li and Mo stormed the court from the bench -sparking violence from both sets of players.

The melee, which badly hurt the growing reputation of Chinese basketball, is sadly not a first time for the team. They were involved in a brawl during a game against Lebanon in the group stages of the Asian Championships in Shanghai in 2001.

The unreasonable acts also squandered China's sparkling performance throughout the night as the host team dominated the court from the tip-off with Zhu Fangyu nailing a game-high 25 points and Yi scoring 17.

After finishing the first half 47-43, China extended their lead to as much as 12 points in the fourth quarter thanks to a physical Yi and newcomer Sun Yue, who fuelled a 9-0 run with seven minutes left on the clock.

Earlier Friday, Lithuania continued their sizzling form as they rolled to an 83-77 win over title favorites Argentina.

Lithuania, the 2003 European Cup champions, have clinched three consecutive victories at the event following an 82-73 rout of Angola and a nervy 68-66 win over China, and now top the team standings with two matches left.

"This was a hard-earned victory as we prepared a lot for the match," said Valdemaras Chomicius, head coach of Lithuania. "We started to think about Argentina on the first day of the event, we watched videos of their games and held meetings for specific tactical arrangements."

With Olympic gold medallists Argentina having only two players who participated in the Athens Olympics last year, Lithuania launched a superb performance in the opening quarter as they led 23-6 in the first quarter before ending the half up 45-37.

After three ties during the fourth quarter, Lithuania made a 13-2 surge and led by seven points before condemning Argentina to their first loss at the event.

The later game between Angola and Australia was stopped in the third quarter as the agreement of both sides due to the complaint that the court floor was too slippery. Angola won the match 62-49.