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LOS ANGELES – Ryan Forehan-Kelly tied his career high with 20 points and Amit Tamir’s inside basket snapped a tie with 1:39 remaining, lifting No. 25 California over UCLA 67-61 Thursday night in the first round of the Pacific-10 Conference tournament. 

The third-seeded Golden Bears (22-7) will play No. 2 seed Arizona in Friday’s semifinals at Staples Center. 

UCLA freshman Ryan Walcott’s basket tied the game at 59 with 2:06 remaining after the Bruins rallied from 10 points down. 

But Tamir scored down low off an inbounds pass, helping the Bears outscore UCLA 8-2 over the final 1:39. Jason Kapono, Billy Knight and Matt Barnes — three of the Bruins’ best shooters — all missed down the stretch. 

Joe Shipp added 18 points for the Bears, who got six of their nine 3-pointers from Forehan-Kelly. 

Barnes led UCLA with 15 points. Kapono added 10 points and Walcott 10. 

The Bruins committed 19 turnovers, including six by freshman Cedric Bozeman and five by Walcott — not surprising because they averaged 18.5 miscues in splitting two games with Cal this season. 

Trailing 58-48, the Bruins scored eight points in a row to get to 58-57 with 2:31 remaining. Walcott had six points, including a 3-pointer. 

After Brian Wethers hit one of two free throws to put Cal ahead 59-57, Walcott tied the game with 2:06 left. 

After Tamir’s go-ahead basket, Shipp stole the ball from Walcott. Wethers, A.J. Diggs and Shantay Legans combined to hit six free throws in the closing 47 seconds. 

UCLA won the first conference tournament in 1987. The Bears were 2-4 in the first four years of the tournament before it was dropped in 1991. 

Despite playing in front of a rowdy partisan crowd at Staples Center, the Bruins couldn’t sustain a rally long enough to stay in front. 

A basket by Kapono provided UCLA’s only lead, 35-34, early in the second half. Cal ran off straight, including consecutive 3-pointers by Forehan-Kelly, for a 43-35 lead. 

Dan Gadzuric dunked for his first points of the game, launching a 9-2 spurt that drew UCLA within one with 11:35 remaining. 

But Forehan-Kelly stopped the Bruins with his sixth 3-pointer for a 48-44 lead. 

The Bruins rallied twice from nine points down in the first half to trail 34-31 at the break. Barnes hit three 3-pointers and could’ve gotten UCLA closer, but was 1-of-4 from the line over the final 1:12. 

UCLA wound up sixth in the regular-season standings, their worst ever finish in the conference. Their 65-62 loss to Oregon last Saturday kept them from grabbing a share of second.