Derrick Favors had 18 points and nine rebounds to help Georgia Tech hold off North Carolina 62-58 in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Thursday night.
Gani Lawal added 12 points for the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets (20-11), who had to fight the entire way to earn a needed victory for their shaky NCAA tournament chances. Georgia Tech trailed by 13 points in the first half against a team it had swept during the regular season, but rallied early in the second half to tie the game before finally pushing ahead in the final 4 minutes.
Favors had a huge game, hitting his first seven shots while coming up with a key block of Tyler Zeller's lay-up attempt to tie it with about 2 minutes left.
Zeller had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the 10th-seeded Tar Heels (16-16), who lost their tournament opener for the first time since falling to Georgia Tech in the 2004 quarterfinals.
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