For one half, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders looked like the defending conference champions.Yet after the break, the Bearkats showed why they are one of the elite teams in the conference this year with a 71-53 victory on Saturday at Johnson Coliseum.The win keeps the Bearkats (18-4, 6-3 SLC) a half-game behind Stephen F. Austin in the West Division. For the Islanders (6-15, 3-5 SLC), the loss further accentuates their tumble down the standings as the reigning conference champions continue to struggle in head coach Perry Clark’s first year in Corpus Christi. With the Bearkats holding a one-point lead, 31-30, going into halftime, the game had the makings of another close finish. Once the game restarted, the Bearkats nearly doubled the Islanders’ scoring in the second half.”I think defensively, we gave up too much in the first half,” senior Ryan Bright said. “In the second half, we played a whole better, our teammates did anyway. I was struggling defensively, and when we pick it up defensively, it creates a lot of options for our offense.”Despite struggling early on, the Bearkats’ defense held strong against the Islanders’ Chris Daniels, last year’s Southland Conference Player of the Year. Daniels was virtually a non-factor in the second half thanks to the SHSU defense holding him to two points and one rebound in the second half, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds.”They are big down low and you know John (Gardiner) does a superb job on defense,” Bright said. “Barkley (Falkner) and Domas (Kvedys) came in there and they all played very well. It’s an effort by our guards too, because they dug down and made their posts pass out a lot, not giving them a chance to shoot.”While the Bearkats’ limited Daniels impact on the game, specifically the second half, the Islanders’ freshman forward Justin Reynolds went 7-of-9 from the floor to lead the Islanders in scoring with 17. “I thought our defense was good. Daniels is a load in there. Reynolds is a very good player, and going to be a really fine player,” SHSU head coach Bob Marlin said. “They have a bunch of fine young players and they have size and athleticism.”Bright finished the game with another double-double, his twelfth on the season, with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Gardiner finished the game with ten points and a pair of blocks, including the infamous “Mutumbo Finger Wag” after one.The Sam Houston State offense improved its production in the second half, shooting 56.5 percent, including five three-pointers, while limiting the Islanders’ to shoot under 40 percent from the field. With the score tied at 35 with 17 minutes remaining, the Bearkats went on a 10-0 run sparked by a Bright three-pointer to set the rout in motion.The Bearkats lead grew to as high as 21 points with 16 seconds remaining, but a late uncontested three-pointer by the Islanders’ William Bullard ended the game with an 18 point margin of victory, their largest of conference play.”In the second half, I thought we played really good defense for our stretch, and hit some timely three point shots,” Marlin said. “We told the guys at halftime, ‘we’re going to bust out and hit shots because we remained close,’ and we hit several threes there. We won the three-point game by 15 points; it was the first time we won the three point game in probably ten games.” Sparking the offense for the Bearkats was Shamir McDaniel, making four of the team’s five three pointers in the second half and finishing with a game-high 19 points, including 13 in the second half. “A couple of my guys made some good plays on the ball and were able to penetrate and kick it out, and I was wide open. All I had to do was make it,” McDaniel said “My teammates made some good plays trying to get me the ball.”With the win, Marlin picks up his 300th victory as head coach, including 177 at Sam Houston State. “It means I’m getting old,” Marlin said with a smile. “You have a lot of people that are involved in your process; it means I have had some great players and some great assistant coaches that have worked with me. You know, it’s just a number, but I’m happy to get it because we got this game.”The Bearkats take on the Islanders once more in the final regular season game for both teams on Saturday, March 8 in Corpus Christi. Marlin said he is hoping for a little payback for what the Islanders did to the Bearkats on their Senior Day last year, soundly defeating the Bearkats 85-68.”We head back there on Daniels’ senior day,” Marlin said. “And maybe we can return the favor to what he did to us last year on our Senior Day.”