CAL STOPS UCLA BEARS ABLE TO WITHSTAND BRUINS' LATE-GAME RALLY By JOHN AKERS Mercury News Staff Writer LOS ANGELES -- The Cal Bears again played one of their more memorable games Thursday at Pauley Pavilion, a place they've begun to treat like home. The 17th-ranked Bears won there for the second year in a row, 92-88, despite allowing No. 15 UCLA to come back from a 15- point deficit with three minutes remaining in the Pacific 10 Conference game. Cal also swept the Bruins for the first time in 34 years. The victory puts the Bears (19-5, 10-3) in position to tie for the Pac-10 title. Cal trails the Bruins (18-4, 11-3) and Arizona (22-4, 11-3) by a half-game with five regular-season games remaining. To win, the Bears had to put an end to a rally that began with Cal holding an 86-71 lead with 3 minutes, 2 seconds left and UCLA star Ed O'Bannon having fouled out. UCLA's Shon Tarver took over, and Cal, in Jason Kidd's words, began treating the ball ''like a hand grenade.'' Tarver scored nine of his 30 points in the final three minutes, including a basket with 1:04 remaining that pulled the Bruins to within 87-86. The Bruins got the ball back on a missed shot by Lamond Murray, who scored a career-high 36 points, but Tarver then gave it back on a five-seconds call. Kidd made four three throws in the final minute, and Murray added another. ''I've been in that position before -- Duke, LSU, Wake Forest this year,'' Kidd said. ''I thought it was a routine thing. My team needed the points badly. I just stepped up with confidence and hit the shots.'' Cal Coach Todd Bozeman was more harried. ''My heart is still beating a little fast,'' Bozeman said immediately after entering the postgame news conference. ''The experience at the end pretty much added 20 years on me. It was tough knowing we didn't have any timeouts left.'' The Bears' victory was only slightly less impressive or less dramatic than last season -- when Jerod Haase played the day after learning of his father's death and the Bears steamrollered UCLA 104-82 as the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden, looked on. It was the worst loss ever by a UCLA team at Pauley. The Bears also won before some special people in the lives of Murray and Kidd. Murray chatted and shared hugs before the game with cousin Tracy Murray, the ex-Bruin now playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. ''I wanted to put on a nice show,'' Murray said. Kidd played for the first time in the presence of his idol and the man with whom he's most often compared -- Magic Johnson. Kidd had a Magic-like evening, too, with 23 points and 11 assists. Murray had 17 points, and Kidd had six assists within the first 10 minutes, as the Bears went on to build a 53-41 halftime lead. ''The first half was too much to overcome,'' UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said. ''We certainly had a chance to win, but we didn't play well enough.'' The Bears, Bruins and Wildcats probably will finish the season in the Pac-10's first three-way tie, giving Cal a share of its first conference title since the 1959-'60 season. None of the three teams play each other again this season. Bozeman wanted to hear none of that kind of talk, however. ''We don't get overly excited about tying the conference race,'' Bozeman said, ''because it's not over yet. We have five games left. By no means can we relax. ''We don't want to get caught up in what hasn't happened in 30 years. We just want to win. Everything is the same with us. Every game is the same.''