BearTalk

FINAL SCORE: Cal 85, UCLA 72. Bears improved to 23-9 — matching their most wins since 1960 — and are into the championship game against either Washington or Stanford. (Yes, it will be Washington, after its 79-64 win over the Cardinal). Randle finished with 24 points and Cal’s career scoring record,  Robertson had 20, Christopher 16 and Boykin 10 points. Roll scored 27 points in possibly his final game for the Bruins (14-18). The Bears have won six in a row, nine of 10.

2:30 2nd H: Robertson just scored on a postup move off a feed from Boykin and Cal leads 76-66. The play came 75 seconds after a nice three-point play by Gutierrez.

3:56 2nd H: Cal leads 71-64, and things are happening. The Bears led 64-54 when Robertson was whistled for an offensive foul — No. 4 — and Montgomery erupted at the refs. He was called for a technical foul and a FT by Roll and ensuing layup by Dragovic made it 64-57 with 6:01 left. Boykin then hit a huge jumper from the FT line area, and after a turnover by Honeycutt, Randle was fouled and made both FTs. But UCLA is not going away. Roll, who has 22 points, made a big 3-pointer from the right corner and Anderson drove on Randle for a basket that got the Bruins within seven points.

7:17 2nd H: Cal’s lead is 64-53. The Bears are attacking the interior of the UCLA defense and getting results. The Bears have scored five of their past six baskets on layups or drives. Randle has 18 points, Christopher has 14 and Robertson 15. Dragovic is 1-for-9 from UCLA. Gutierrez just picked up his third foul.

11:50 2nd H: Reeves Nelson traveled before the media timeout — UCLA has now gone seven possessions and 4:26 without scoring. Robertson had 10 points in the half. Cal is shooting 8-for-11 in the half and has outscored the Bruins 17-5 in the period. UCLA is shooting 2-for-11 in the half. By the way, Randle has broken Sean Lampley’s career scoring record. But we had other things to talk about.

12:03 2nd H: Cal has scored 10 straight and leads 52-44. Robertson just hit a 3-pointer. The Bruins are 0-for-5 with two turnovers on their past six possessions. They have switched into zone a couple times, and Cal has dealt with it fine. Suddenly, Cal has life in its step, the Bruins appear a bit tired.

14:54 2nd H: The Bears are up 45-44. A Dragovic airball led to a transition opportunity for Cal, and Christopher nailed a 3-pointer off a pass from Randle.

17:43 2nd H: Cal leads 40-39 after a blocked shot by Boykin against Nelson leads to a 3-pointer from Robertson in transition, assist to Christopher. UCLA is 0-for-4 from the field in the half.

HALFTIME SCORE: UCLA 39, Cal 35. Randle hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left to get the Bears within three points. The Pac-10 Player of the Year has 14 points, but three turnovers. Roll has 16 points for the Bruins, who are shooting 15-for-27 (55.6 percent). Cal is at 13-for-26 (50 percent).  The Bruins have 10 turnovers, Cal has seven. New (official) stats: UCLA’s rebounding edge is 15-9. The Bears probably feel pretty good about being down just four points at this point.

3:58 1st H: UCLA leads 31-26. Honeycutt just picked up his third personal foul on a charge into Gutierrez . . . yeah, him again. The Bruins are being patient with their offense and have scored a couple times lately near the end of the clock. Probably the ideal scenario for Ben Howland.

6:15 1st H: “It’s a game now, baby,” Boykin just told his teammates on the sidelines. “We stuck it out.” Once down by 10, Cal now trails just 27-26 after a baby hook shot by Markhuri Sanders-Frison. The change happened — as it often does — when Jorge Gutierrez came into the game. He entered at 17:04 with UCLA leading 17-10. Roll converted a three-point play, but Cal has outscored the Bruins 16-7 since. Gutierrez officially has just one steal, but a Michael Roll pass off his face got Cal another UCLA turnover. Randle, who drew some hoots from the UCLA crowd when he air-balled a 3-point try, has nine points, including a couple daring drives through the Bruins’ man-to-man defense.

8:31 1st H: UCLA has turnovers on seven of its past nine possessions and Cal has closed the gap to 22-20 after a 3-pointer by Robertson.

11:25 1st H: UCLA is attacking the middle of Cal’s defense and using its length to cause big problems. The Bruins scored on nine of their first 12 possessions to forge a 20-10 lead. Since then, the teams have traded turnovers — five in a row between them. Roll has 10 points to lead the Bruins. UCLA is shooting 61.5 percent (8-for-13) while Cal is at 50 percent (5-for-10).

15:52 1st H: A slow start by the Bears, who trail 7-4. Cal is shooting 2-for-5 with a turnover. A driving layup try by Randle that was blocked led to a fastbreak by the Bruins. UCLA is shooting 3-for-7 but has a couple offensive rebounds.

STARTING LINEUPS: The Bruins will start Reeves Nelson, Tyler Honeycutt, Nikola Dragovic, Malcolm Lee and Michael Roll. Cal goes with the usual five: Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson, Omondi Amoke and Jamal Boykin.

GREETINGS: We’re back here at the Staples Center, awaiting this evening’s Pac-10 tournament semifinal between Cal (22-9) and UCLA (14-17). As you probably know, the teams split two regular-season games, each winning on the other’s home floor.

If the Bears win tonight, they will reach the Pac-10 tournament final for only the second time, and have their ninth win in 10 games. They haven’t done that against Pac-10 competition since the 1996-97 season. A victory also would give Cal just its third 23-win season since 1960.

Everyone is present and accounted for among the Bears as they begin warmups.

We’ll be back with starting lineups when they’re available.