Tampa, Fla. — Two days after picking up the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory in 13 years, Western Kentucky University ended an even longer drought.

Courtney Lee recorded a game-high 29 points and collected seven rebounds Sunday to lead the 12th-seeded Hilltoppers to a 72-63 basketball victory over No. 13 seed San Diego in the second round of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region at the St. Pete Times Forum.

With the win, the Toppers (29-6) will return to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1993. They will face the region’s top seed, UCLA, on Thursday, with the game time has yet to be determined.

Lee only hit one field goal in the second half, but it was a three-pointer from in front of the WKU bench with 6:17 remaining, giving the Hilltoppers the lead for good after the Toreros (22-14) rebounded from a 15-point deficit to go ahead 55-54 18 seconds before on a trey from Devin Ginty.

Ty Rogers was fouled on a shot from beyond the arc with five-and-a-half minutes left and made all three free throws to extend the advantage to five. USD would make it a one-possession contest twice more in the next 80 seconds, but a three from Tyrone Brazelton with just over three minutes remaining sparked a 9-2 run that helped put the game away.

A.J. Slaughter sank two free throws with 45 seconds to go, and Lee converted six in a row in the final 33 seconds to seal the victory. Lee finished 9-of-15 from the floor — including hitting 4-of-5 from long distance — and 7-of-8 at the foul line, and he was also credited with three steals.

“It was a great college basketball game, like we knew it would be,” said WKU head coach Darrin Horn. “I have so much respect for [USD head coach] Bill [Grier] and the phenomenal job he has done with his team this year. Even though we felt like the pace and tempo of the game favored us for the first 25 minutes, they made some nice adjustments and just kept fighting and battling.”

“I knew coming into this game that Western Kentucky was a very good basketball team, and they certainly proved that today,” Grier stated. “I felt early in the game we got a little rattled by their press and let the tempo of the game get into their favor.”

USD had 12 turnovers before the break which resulted in 15 WKU points at the other end, finishing the contest with 17 total. The Toppers held the Toreros to just 44.7 percent from the field, while USD connected on only 17-of-28 free-throw attempts.

The Hilltoppers connected at a 56.7 percent clip over the first 20 minutes, however, in building a double-digit edge. Lee scored 19 points in the first half, including a pair of threes 49 seconds apart in an 8-2 run that forced USD to call a time-out down 23-13 with 9:44 to go. The Toreros cut their deficit down to six points twice, but Jeremy Evans scored four in a row on a dunk after Rogers found him cutting down the lane and two free throws to build the lead back into double digits, 33-23, with under six minutes left.

Evans posted nine points, seven rebounds and a season-high five blocks in 29 minutes of action.

Lee added two more jumpers in the final three-and-a-half minutes as the Toppers limited the Toreros to 1-of-4 shooting while forcing five turnovers in the last six minutes of the half. He was 8-of-11 from the field prior to the break, which included sinking three three-pointers, as the Hilltoppers led 39-27 going into the locker room.

Gyno Pomare collected 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the first half for the Toreros, but he picked up his second foul with just over four minutes remaining as USD would score only four points the rest of the period. Pomare also was limited to one field goal after the intermission, as he would finish with a team-best 20 points and game-high nine boards.

Brandon Johnson added 13 points and four assists, but he hit only 4-of-15 from the floor and committed six turnovers. Rob Jones chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds.

Brazelton — who would finish with 15 points, five assists and three steals — made his first three-pointer with just over 16 minutes to go to give WKU its largest advantage, 50-35. After trading baskets, Jones started the USD comeback with a layup with just over 15 minutes left. Johnson scored six straight points to cut the deficit to single figures, and when Ginty connected from beyond the arc at 6:35 the Toreros had their first lead since the 17-minute mark of the first half.

That capped an 18-2 spurt for USD, as Steffphon Pettigrew accounted for the Toppers’ only points over a nine-minute and 29-second stretch with a basket in the lane.

WKU ended up with a season-best 13 steals and six blocks on the defensive end, and it pulled down one more rebound than the Toreros. The Hilltoppers shot 48.1 percent overall, making 6-of-16 from beyond the arc, while hitting 76.2 percent at the foul line including 14-of-17 over the final 20 minutes.

The Toppers’ 29 victories this season match the highest in Sun Belt Conference history, tying WKU’s 29-9 squad from the 1986-87 campaign.

Horn was a sophomore on the last Hilltopper team to advance to the Sweet 16, where they fell 81-78 in overtime to Florida State.