Lee plays big for Western Kentucky, fallen teammate

TAMPA, Fla. -- The moment called for a star. Having just blown a 15-point lead in a span of nine minutes, the last points coming on a 3-point shot by a freshman walk-on for San Diego making it hurt even worse, Western Kentucky needed a play by someone, anyone.

Seniors Courtney Lee and Tyrone Brazelton combine for 44 points in the win. (AP)

So the Hilltoppers looked to the player they've turned to most of the season, the player who has that NBA look about him as much as any player at this site the past three days, a player competing this day and every day for a dead friend and former teammate.

Western Kentucky senior guard Courtney Lee took a pass on the left angle, and without an inch of hesitation, rose up to take the biggest shot of his career. When it swished through the net for a 3-point basket, the 12th-seeded Hilltoppers had the lead back and they never gave it up again, eventually beating the Toreros 72-63 at the St. Pete Times Forum and advancing to a West Region semifinal game against top-seeded UCLA.

"I was running down the court yelling, 'give me a shot, give me a shot,' " Lee said. "I was shooting it pretty well. I was feeling good. I got the ball and elevated over the shorter defender and it was able to go in."

Lee finished with a game-high 29 on 9-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-5 from behind the 3-point line. It was a big-time performance from a marquee player who should be an NBA first-round pick this summer.

The emotions of the day were tough for Lee. That's because he was playing not just for himself, but also for deceased former teammate Danny Rumph. It was Rumph who played a big role in Lee still being at Western Kentucky.

After arriving as a freshman for summer session, Lee was homesick. He was ready to go home to Indianapolis. Even though he was only three hours away from home, he wanted out. Somebody asked if he had one foot out the door?

"More like one and a half," Lee said.

"There was no way he was going home," Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn said. "If we had to set up a wall around the county line, there was no way he was getting out of Bowling Green."

It was Rumph's friendship that helped change Lee's thinking, as well as a mother who stopped taking his calls because she wanted no part of the I'm-coming-home talk. Rumph, a junior at the time, would take trips home with Lee to help show him he wasn't missing anything. The two grew close. They became roommates.

"We developed a friendship that was sort of like brothers," Lee said.

After his freshman season, Lee was adjusted to the Bowling Green lifestyle. Having a friend like Rumph made it easier. But in May 2005, while playing a pickup game in his hometown of Philadelphia, Rumph died of a heart attack. They said the cause was an enlarged heart.

As Lee continued to grow and mature as a player, he now played for two, himself and the friend he already knew had a big heart before he died from one. The deeper the Hilltoppers go in this tournament, the more his story will get out, the more he'll carry on for his friend.