DES MOINES — Bryce Coppock first experienced the thrill of the state basketball tournament sitting on the bench with his dad six years ago.

Now, a senior at West Sioux, Coppock will get to actually step on the court and lead his team into action.

Coppock and the Falcons (22-2 overall) take on defending state champion North Linn (24-0) in the Class 2A quarterfinals here Monday at 4:30 p.m. inside Wells Fargo Arena.

Back in 2014, he was a water boy for his dad, Shad Coppock, and Newell-Fonda.

“That was just a really great experience,” he said. “It is really where my dream of getting to state began. I also got to watch the Newell-Fonda girls play over the years at state.”

Coppock, who has yet to make his college decision, ranks inside the Top-20 in the state for career scoring. He enters the week with 2,195 points, moving just ahead of Jeff Horner from Mason City and within striking distance of passing both Brandon Myers from Monroe-PCM and Adam Haluska of Carroll.

West Sioux knocked out South Central Calhoun in a substate final last week. Coppock scored 14 with six assists in that win, with Iowa State University football recruit Hunter Dekkers adding 30 and 16 rebounds.

The Falcons have won four in a row since a pair of three-point losses to Hinton and 1A qualifier Remsen St. Mary’s.

While this will be the first trip to state for West Sioux, they are familiar with both the big stage and bigger court. The Falcons reached the state football semifinals this past fall with many of the same key players, and they topped Spencer inside the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City in January.

“Coach has put together a really good game plan and we are all excited to go execute it,” Coppock said. “We practiced at Northwestern College to get a feel for the larger court, which was helpful, and we also know how it feels because we played at the Tyson Events Center. That was a nice warm up game for Wells Fargo Arena.”

And just like six years ago when he sat next to his dad on the Mustang bench, he will do the same this time around with an added family member. Shad Coppock serves as an assistant coach and brother Mason Coppock is a freshman on the team.

“Just like me, they both share the passion of making it to state,” Bryce Coppock said. “We always talked about it and now it feels amazing that we were all able to make it a reality together.”