Monroe Builds on Johnson’s Bricks : Boys’ basketball: He hits for 25 points despite big misses in 58-35 victory over San Fernando.

Talk about erratic.

Monroe High center Tim Johnson took a shot from the baseline in the second quarter of Wednesday’s game at San Fernando that bounced three times on the top of the backboard.

In the second half, Johnson threw up an air ball that drew jeers from the crowd. Then he tried another shot from the baseline.

Boink. Off the side of the backboard.

Nobody’s perfect.

Still, Johnson had 25 points and led the Vikings to a 58-35 victory.

“That’s just how I play,” Johnson said. “If I have the open shot, I just take it. But sometimes I just let the game come to me by not forcing my shots.”

The 6-foot-5 senior had 10 points in the first half and 10 in the third quarter as Monroe (9-3) blew open the game. Eight of those points were part of a 14-2 third-period run that increased a six-point Viking lead to a comfortable 41-23.

Johnson capped his scoring in the fourth quarter with a layup and free throw for a three-point play and a dunk on a fast break that gave Monroe its biggest lead, 25 points. He left the game with 2 minutes 2 seconds remaining.

San Fernando (4-9) held an 8-7 lead midway through the first quarter when Johnson blocked a shot by Marty Trinidad and passed to Rolando Cardenas for a layup at the other end. Then Johnson stole a pass and broke for an easy layup.

As if that wasn’t enough, Johnson added two more blocked shots while Monroe jumped in front, 13-8, and the Tigers went scoreless for 3:11.

“We intimidated them most of the time,” Johnson said.

The closest San Fernando would get from that point was 15-12 on a layup by Richard Barrios. The Tigers missed several easy shots, mainly because Johnson, 6-6 Marrean Robottom and 6-2 Bobby Reed (eight points and 11 rebounds) were slashing to the backboard with their arms above the rim.

“We don’t have enough height, me being the tallest on the team,” said Trinidad, a 6-1 junior forward who scored 16 points for San Fernando. “That killed us.”

That and turnovers.

The Tigers lost possession six times in the final two minutes of the first half but Monroe could convert them into only two points.

But when the Tigers’ run of turnovers spilled into the second half (they wound up committing 12 in a 10-minute span), Johnson made them pay.

He hit a jumper from the lane. Then he made two layups, the second coming after a steal of San Fernando’s inbounds pass. His eighth point in Monroe’s 14-2 run was an effortless 10-footer from the wing that avoided the backboard and hit nothing but net.