Martavious Irving went cold until it counted most. After a quiet first half, the Boyd Anderson senior guard scored eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to help the Cobras remain unbeaten with a thrilling 59-52 victory against Miami Monsignor Pace at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Classic at Boyd Anderson late Friday night.

Irving followed a Bryan Bynes putback with a thunderous one-handed dunk after picking off a halfcourt pass, and later hit a straightaway three-pointer with 5:11 left to spark a pivotal 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter.

''I was struggling the whole game,'' Irving said. ``I was just trying to play as hard as I could. Coach told me to not stop playing. The big three was there. It came to me in the fourth quarter.''

Louisville 6-8 signee Rakeem Buckles led the Spartans with 18 points. Darren Stewart added 12 points and Christian Martinez had nine points.

Irving's heroics was needed on a night the reigning 4A state champion Spartans (10-4, No. 1 in 4A) threw a scare into the Cobras (16-0, No. 1 in 6A). Pace 6-5 forward Darren Stewart, who spent most of the game guarding Irving, converted a driving layup, and Cody Mann banked in a shot at the end of the third quarter buzzer to pull the Spartans within 41-39 going into the final period.

''Pace is a very good team,'' Cobras coach Eugene Richardson said. ``They are two-time defending state champions and have been playing great basketball. I told the guys this is not going to be easy. It is going to be possession basketball game. They are going to come right back at you.''

All the talk about the Spartans willing to run with the Cobras was a smoke screen. Stewart said the game plan drawn up by Pace coach Mark Lieberman was to run selectively and play a tight man-to-man defense that never allowed the Cobras to up the tempo to their liking.

''We guarded harder and pressured the ball more in the second half,'' Stewart said. ``That is how we cut the lead. We sat back in the half court and played them man to man. We had them run plays. We got them out of their half-court offense.''

Bynes had a game-high 19 points, Travis Elliott had 10 points and Cedric Flood added nine points for the Cobras, who are ranked No. 18 in the ESPN Rise Rankings. Tyrone Davis added seven points.

Buckles scored off one of his patented spin moves with 2:16 left to cap a 9-2 run but the Cobras scored the next five points, highlighted by Flood driving the baseline and throwing down a left-handed dunk to push the lead to 57-48 with 1:23 left.

BOYD ANDERSON 59, MIAMI PACE 52

MP (10-4): Buckles 18, Stewart 12, Cilien 2, Mann 7, Martinez 9, Parms 4.

BA (16-0): Bynes 19, Davis 7, Irving 14, Elliott 10, Flood 9.

Half: BA 41-39. Three-pointers: Bynes 1, Irving 2, Flood 1, Buckles 1, Mann 1, Martinez 2.

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