Third time isn’t a charm for Griggsville-Perry, which gets bounced from postseason by Triopia

PAYSON, Ill. — There’s always next season.

That’s what Griggsville-Perry boys basketball coach Garrett White will be telling himself in the coming weeks and months.

However, that likely won’t help soften the blow of Wednesday’s 56-53 overtime loss to Triopia in the Class 1A regional semifinals at Payson Seymour High School.

The Tornadoes (24-9), who finish with the school’s most victories since a 25-6 finish in 2007-08, were expecting a deeper postseason run.

“Twenty-four wins is a good season, but in the end, you are defined by what you do in the postseason,” White said.

Griggsville-Perry’s most recent regional championship was in 2015. That drought may very well end next season.

“We’ve got everyone back next year, plus we have a strong group of eighth graders coming,” White said. “We’ll have a strong team next season.”

That loss to Triopia (20-13), however, is going to sting for quite a while.

Griggsviller-Perry had beaten Triopia 43-41 in overtime Feb. 14 and 44-31 Jan. 28.

“It’s tough to beat a team three times in the same season,” White said.

Triopia surged to as much as a 19-point lead (24-5) in the first half before Griggsville-Perry made a spirited run over the third and fourth quarters. Wyatt Lipcaman scored 16 of his 22 points, Michael Myers seven of his 14 points and Lane Lipcaman seven of his 12 points in the second half.

Triopia outscored the Tornadoes 6-3 in the four-minute overtime.

“Early in the game, we had that deer-in-the-headlights look,” White said. “We had a big hill to climb after getting down by 19 points in the first half, but the kids came back.”

Triopia coach Rich Thompson, whose team had lost two earlier meetings to Griggsville-Perry this season, lauded the play of the Lipcamans.

“I give Griggsville-Perry a lot of credit, especially (the two Lipcamans),” Thompson said. “Those two have no quit in them.”

Wyatt Lipcaman entered the game averaging 17.8 points and Lane Lipcaman 8.9 points. Both are 5-foot-8 juniors.

Aiden Neathery, a 6-2 senior forward, paced Triopia with 25 points. Ryan Snow, another 6-2 senior, led all rebounders with 15 and scored 17 points.