CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -- Ed Cota and Jeff Lebo have reached some of the same milestones in North Carolina blue. Lebo is glad to still have his name in the record book.

"I thought Cota was terrific today. I don't know how many assists (he had). I hope not 18," Lebo said Sunday after the Tar Heels' 85-59 win over Tennessee Tech.

Cota joined Lebo, the second-year coach at Tennessee Tech, last Saturday against UNLV when he tied Lebo's North Carolina record of 17.

	Jason Capel scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

Cota, who scored 15 points, finished with seven assists to give him 826 for his career, 58 more than the second-best record. He also reached the 1,000-point plateau with a one-handed lay-in with 14:55 to go.

Only Cota, Lebo, North Carolina assistant coach Phil Ford and Kenny Smith have at least 1,000 points and 500 assists in their careers.

"It's a nice accomplishment, but not a big deal to me," Cota said. "Most guys get 1,000 points in two or three years. It took me four. It will look good in the record books."

North Carolina won its first home game of the season after losing to then-No. 7 Michigan State 86-66 in the home opener Dec. 1.

Jason Capel led North Carolina with 21 points while Brendan Haywood had 16 and Joseph Forte added 11.

Tennessee Tech's Josh Heard scored 18 points and Corey Hemphill added 11.

After some close games and a 77-68 loss to No. 1 Cincinnati earlier this week, North Carolina needed this game.

"I helps with confidence factor," Capel said. "It's the first time we've been able to put a team away."

Down 42-22 at halftime, Tennessee Tech, third in the nation in 3-point shooting per game, hit five straight from behind the arc in the opening minutes of the second half to make it 55-39 with 14:39 to go.

But the Tar Heels regained their 20-point lead when Cota put back his own miss to put North Carolina up 63-42 with 11:08 remaining.

North Carolina started to pull away with a 15-8 run halfway through the first half. After Brent Jolly made two free throws to put the Golden Eagles down 20-17, Tennessee Tech didn't score another basket until the Tar Heels were up 29-17.

Larrie Smith ended the scoring drought with a driving layup with 4:49 to go in the first half.

But in the final four minutes before halftime, North Carolina went on another run, 13-3, as Julius Peppers made a hook shot and Haywood converted a 3-point play to give the Tar Heels a 42-22 lead at the break.

"The first half was a good half defensively," coach Bill Gutheridge said. "We were scared to death of their 3s. We really did a good job of covering the 3s, except for the first two or three times."

Tennessee Tech came into the game ranked third in the nation in 3-point shooting with a 10.5 per game average, but the Golden Eagles hit only four of 16 3-pointers in the first half. Tennessee Tech finished 13 of 40 from beyond the arc.

The Golden Eagles kept the game close for the first 10 minutes as Jolly made a putback to tie the score 9-9 with 14:59 to go in the first half. Darrell Moore hit a 3 with 11:53 left in the half to put Tennessee Tech within one at 16-15.

Kris Lang did not play for North Carolina due to a sprained right knee sustained in the loss to Cincinnati.

The Golden Eagles were coming off two straight home wins in which they scored more than 100 points for the first time in nearly 25 years. North Carolina was Tennessee Tech's first road game after four straight at home.