California defeats Oregon to reach Pac-10 tournament semifinal

California came to the Pacific Life Pac-10 men’s basketball tournament with two goals for its quarterfinal game against Oregon:

Beat the Ducks and not expend too much energy doing so.

Top-seeded Cal had no problems Thursday, cruising to a 90-74 victory at Staples Center that advanced the Golden Bears into a Friday night semifinal against UCLA.

“I was pleased with the fact that really nobody played over 30 minutes so it gives us a little bit of a chance to rest,” Cal Coach Mike Montgomery said after his team improved to 22-9.

Cal, winner of its first outright conference title in 50 years, split two games with UCLA this season.

In January, the Golden Bears lost, 76-75, in overtime at Berkeley. They overcame a 14-point deficit to beat the Bruins, 72-58, at Pauley Pavilion in early February.

UCLA, buoyed by the return of freshman forward Reeves Nelson from eye surgery, on Thursday defeated Arizona, 75-69, to earn another shot at Cal.

“Being home in L.A. and getting Reeves Nelson back being healthy makes them more dangerous,” Montgomery said of the Bruins.

Good health probably won’t help UCLA much if Cal’s guards play the way they have for most of the season.

Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher demonstrated against Oregon why they both were selected first-team all-conference.

Randle, the Pac-10 player of the year, scored all of his 22 points in the first half. He made all eight of his field-goal attempts, including four of the Golden Bears’ nine first-half three-pointers.

Christopher finished the game with 21 points, making five of nine three-pointers.

“We just have to do the same that we did today — be unselfish and try to find the open man,” Randle said.

Oregon had arrived in Los Angeles amid reports that Coach Ernie Kent had told his players that he would not be allowed to return for the 2010-11 season. The Ducks beat Washington State in overtime Wednesday night, but they were no match for the Golden Bears despite a 26-point effort by guard Tajuan Porter.

“I’m proud of my guys for coming down here and battling [and] having to deal with so much extra noise in their head,” Kent said.

Kent, however, declined to address his status. He is 235-173 in 13 seasons with the Ducks, including 16-16 this season.

After the loss to Cal, he said he would discuss only the game and the players that joined him on the dais.

“This is not the place for me to talk about anything else right now,” Kent said.

gary.klein@latimes.com

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