McDuffie led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 8-of-13 shooting at the stripe. He also pitched in six rebounds and a block in his 35 minutes of work. Parkes added 19 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Freshman guard A.J. Picard provided 26 quality minutes off the bench as he registered seven points, three rebounds and an assist in what was a bit of a homecoming for the Philadelphia-area native from Souderton, Pa.
Still, it was not enough as the reigning CACC regular season champion Rams put five scorers in double-figures and out-rebounded the Lightning 41-24. Ola Sasona led the offensive charge with 16 points and nine rebounds and Corey Francisco scored 12 while pulling down 17 rebounds from his guard position.
Philadelphia, led by the NCAA’s all-time winningest coach in Herb Magee, out-shot GBC 49.2 percent to 37.7 percent from the field and outscored the Lightning 42-22 in the paint. GBC was without its usual starting forward, graduate student Rich Flemming (7.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg), as Flemming did not make the trip with the team.
The two teams traded baskets early on, but with the score tied 4-4, the Rams went on a 13-5 run over the next five minutes to take a 17-9 lead at the 13:15 mark.
The Lightning fought their way back with an 8-2 run led by a three-pointer apiece by Picard and Parkes and a jumper by McDuffie as they closed within two, 19-17 as the clock approached the nine-minute mark of the first half.
Phila U. countered with layups by Francisco and Ed DiRugeris and upped its lead back to five, 23-18. But again, Parkes and Picard went to work, both scoring two-point buckets to cut the deficit to one (23-22) and force a Magee timeout just under the six-minute mark.
Following the timeout, the Rams took control of the game with a 10-2 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes to go ahead 33-24.
Senior guard Jon Crawford made a three-point field goal with 47 seconds left to cut the lead to six (35-29), but DiRugeris answered right back with a trey for Phila U. with two seconds left in the half and gave the Rams a 38-29 lead at intermission.
Philadelphia went on to outscore GBC 36-26 in the second half as Jim Connolly opened the scoring in the second stanza with a three-pointer and the Lightning never closed within single-digits the rest of the way.
The Lightning (0-1 CACC) have almost a full week off before they hit the court again to host crosstown rival Wilmington University at the Jones Center on Tues., Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.
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