Advertisement

COL BKB: Notre Dame 69, Akron 56

CHICAGO, March 18 (UPI) -- Ben Hansbrough led a balanced Notre Dame scoring attack in a 69-56 NCAA tournament victory over cold-shooting Akron.

Notre Dame, seeded second in the Southwest Region, capitalized on long shooting droughts by Akron to advance to the third round Sunday against No. 10-seeded Florida State, which held Texas A&M to 31.4 percent shooting in a 57-50 win later Friday. The Akron Zips ended their season with a record of 23-13.

Advertisement

The Irish (27-6) spread their scoring around. While Hansbrough led the way with 15 points -- 11 in the first half -- Ted Abromaitis finished with 14, Scott Martin added 11, Tyrone Nash nine and Carleton Scott and Eric Atkins each getting eight points.

Quincy Diggs paced the Zips with 11 points but Akron managed just 35.9 percent shooting.

Notre Dame scored nine consecutive points at the start of the second half to go up 43-30. Akron got a 3-point basket from Alex Abreau but wouldn't get another until the second half was 5:10 old. Notre Dame led 43-30 before that shot.

Akron had another streak of nearly 6 minutes without a basket and Notre Dame took advantage to push its lead to 59-45.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines