ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — This time Jaraan Cornell excelled for the whole game.

After playing hero in the second half of each of Purdue’s first two NCAA tournament wins, the senior guard played well from start to finish. As a result, he scored 18 points to lead sixth-seeded Purdue (24-9) to a 75-66 victory over 10th-seeded Gonzaga (26-9) Thursday night. The Boilers advance to play the ---- at ---- on Saturday in the Elite Eight round of the tournament.

"It feels great to come out and assert yourself right at the beginning," said Cornell. "You get confidence as a player and as a team, and you kind of get on a roll."

Cornell even sat out for a six-minute stretch in the second half with foul trouble, but his presence wasn’t really necessary as the Boilers had built a nearly insurmountable lead.

"I had fun on the bench cheering," said Cornell, who also had seven rebounds and two assists.

In fact, the play of Purdue’s bench was integral to the win. Everyone on Purdue’s roster played. Although no bench player scored more than five points, they came in, gave the starters a rest and played solid defense, which enabled Purdue to keep its lead at more than five for the entire game.

Three players scored in double figures for the Bulldogs, including Casey Calvary, who had 20. However, Gonzaga’s lack of depth caught up to it in The Pit, which is an intense arena situated more than a mile above sea level. Therefore, four of Gonzaga’s players were forced to play more than 32 minutes.

"Our depth kind of wore them down," said Purdue coach Gene Keady. "We just kept hanging in there and playing defense."

Gonzaga’s top players were highly ineffective against Purdue’s defense. Calvary, Axel Dench and leading scorer Richie Frahm scored most of their combined 48 points on dunks after the game was out of the 'Zags' reach.

Center Greg McQuay wore the No. 5 on his shoes for his brother and former Boiler Gary McQuay, who is in the hospital with leukemia. Greg’s 11 points and seven rebounds were key, but so was his defense in the post. Brian Cardinal had 10 points, but, just as McQuay's, his defense on the Gonzaga post players was key.

"We took some things away that they normally do," said Cardinal.

Purdue's physical play limited Gonzaga’s ability to rebound as the Boilers won the rebounding war 44-33. The Boilers scored 23 second-chance points on their 20 offensive rebounds.

"One of our strengths all year has been offensive rebounding," said Cardinal, who led the team with eight boards. "We know we have an edge on most teams."

Purdue had an edge for the final 31:30 of the game, but the Bulldogs made several runs. The biggest one was a 10-2 spurt to begin the second half that cut Purdue’s lead to five 16:08 to play.

Purdue answered with an 8-0 run and never looked back.

Earlier in the game, the Bulldogs made a 10-0 run to take a 10-4 lead. The Boilers tied it at 10 with 14:03 left in the half and later went on a 22-7 run to make the score 35-22 at halftime.

"Basketball is a game of runs," said Cornell. "We knew they were going to make runs. We just couldn’t lose our composure. We had to maintain what we were doing."

The Boilers didn't do a lot of celebrating after the win. Instead, they were thinking ahead to the next game.

"We’ve got a mission here," said Keady. "We want to get back home (to Indianapolis for the Final Four). We’re still a long ways away, so we don’t have anything to celebrate yet."