A.L. Johnson returning to South Regional with win over Shields

A.L. Johnson used a dominant fourth quarter to put away J.F. Shields 63-47 Tuesday night, punching its ticket to the Class 1A South Regional in Dothan.

The Eagles were in a tightly contested affair through the first 24 minutes of play. ALJ led 11-9 after one quarter of play and clung to a 24-23 advantage at the half. With only a four-point lead heading into the fourth, ALJ exploded for a 20-8 run on the strength of the scoring trio of Desmond Mair, Shermon Kennedy and Leo Baker. That group had all 20 Eagle points in the quarter and 58 of the team’s 63 points in the game.

Kennedy paced the Eagles with 23 points while Mair finished with 22. Baker contributed 13 in the effort.

Qwindarrius Baxter headed the Shields scoring with 15 points while Kenan McCreary had 12.

A.L. Johnson, which went to the state semi-finals a season ago, is set to play at 7:30 p.m. at the Dothan Civic Center against Fruitdale.