LJ Cryer matched a career high with 30 points, including two free throws with 14.2 seconds left, and No. 1 seed Houston held on to beat eighth-seeded Gonzaga 81-76 on Saturday night in Wichita, Kansas to reach the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight NCAA Tournament.

J’Wan Roberts added 18 points and Milos Uzan made two last free throws with 2.1 seconds left, giving the Cougars (32-4) their 15th consecutive win and pushing them into a Midwest Region semifinal against No. 4 seed Purdue on Friday night in Indianapolis.

Houston also ended Gonzaga’s run of nine straight Sweet 16s, which had been the longest active streak in the nation.

“It’s not just winning the game,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said. “It’s beating a great program like Gonzaga.”

The Bulldogs (26-9) trailed 76-67 with just over 2 minutes to go when Graham Ike made two free throws to start their comeback bid, and most of it wound up coming at the foul line. And when Uzan turned the ball over and Khalif Battle made two free throws of his own, the Bulldogs had pulled to 77-76 with 21 seconds remaining.

Houston got the ball to Cryer, who was fouled, and the third-team All-American made both of his free throws to extend the lead. At the other end, Ja’Vier Francis stuffed Battle’s tying 3-point try from the corner, and Uzan knocked down his foul shots to seal the win.

“Gonzaga is as good as anyone we’ve played all year,” Sampson said. “Had they been seeded somewhere else, that’s a team that could have had a chance to get to the Elite Eight, or maybe the Final Four. They’re that good.”

Ike finished with 27 points for the Bulldogs.

Tennessee 67, UCLA 58: Chaz Lanier made 4 of 5 3-pointers and finished with 20 points, and No. 2 seed Tennessee advanced to a program-record third straight Sweet 16 with the win on Saturday night in Lexington, Kentucky.

Lanier, an honorable mention All-American, also set the Tennessee single-season record for 3s with 120, topping the 118 by Chris Lofton in 2007-08. Lofton was in the stands at Rupp Arena to witness Lanier’s performance.

Zakai Zeigler added 15 points for Tennessee (29-7), which will play either sixth-seeded Illinois or No. 3 seed Kentucky on Friday in Indianapolis. The Illini-Wildcats game on Sunday ended too late for this edition.

No. 7 seed UCLA (23-11) made its earliest exit from the tournament in the six-year tenure of coach Mick Cronin.

South Region

Auburn 82, Creighton 70: Tahaad Pettiford scored 16 of his 23 points after halftime and Chad Baker-Mazara added 17 points for No. 1 overall seed Auburn, which held an experienced Creighton scoreless for more than six minutes during a decisive 10-0 second-half run.

Pettiford scored six points during that burst to push the Tigers to a 68-54 lead.

Auburn (30-5) moves on to the region semifinals in Atlanta, where it will face No. 5 seed Michigan on Friday.

Creighton under coach Greg McDermott had reached the Sweet 16 in three of the previous four years. Fifth-year senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner, a third-team All-American, scored 18 points in his final game for the Bluejays (25-11).

“He’s won more games than anybody that’s ever worn a Creighton uniform. He’s won more NCAA Tournament games than anybody who has worn that Creighton uniform,” McDermott said of the 7-foot-1 Kalkbrennner. “His jersey will hang in the rafters someday, and he cares nothing about that, zero. That’s what makes him so special.”