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Notre Dame Beats Akron, Advances To Next Round

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish may not have earned a top seed after their 26-6 regular season, but the fact that their first two games will be in Chicago is a nice trade off.

Ben Hansbrough scored 15 points despite another sub-par shooting game and Tim Abromaitis added 14 as second-seeded Notre Dame fought off scrappy Akron for a 69-56 second-round victory Friday in the Southwest Regional.

Notre Dame (27-6) will meet the winner of Florida State-Texas A&M on Sunday at the United Center.

The Irish led 34-30 at the half before scoring the first nine points of the second to build their lead to double digits and then held off the cold-shooting Zips.

Hansbrough, the Big East Player of the Year who shot just 3-for-16 in a loss to Louisville in the semifinals of the conference tourney, hit just 4-of-11 from the field but was 6-of-6 from the line and had six assists.

The 15th-seeded Zips (23-13) were appearing in just their third NCAA Division I tournament and second in two years.

Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. STATS LLC and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

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