ALBANY, N.Y. — At one end, Dominick Welch took two dribbles to his right, rose over a Siena defender and splashed another 3-pointer, his fifth of the game.

At the other, Jalen Pickett broke down the defense and zipped a pass inside to Elijah Burns, who finished another easy layup for the Saints.

And so it went for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team.

The Bonnies were night-and-day better from beyond the arc, a welcome sight after a brutal showing in each of their first two contests. They matched their season 3-point total (7), in fact, in only the first half and had 10 by the 15:18 mark of the second stanza.

As one flaw was improved upon, however, another came to the forefront.

Bona couldn’t keep a more experienced Siena team from attacking it, allowing the Saints to hold sizable advantages in both free throw shooting (22-of-29 to 7-of-7) and points in the paint (38-18). It couldn’t match up with the more physical Saints on the boards, leading to a 39-30 deficit on the glass.

On this night, its passivity and, at times, youth showed.

The result was a close game that got away from it in a 78-65 loss Siena in the 10th renewal of the Br. Ed Coughlin Franciscan Cup series before 5,680 observers on Tuesday night at the Times Union Center.

“Siena did a really good job of attacking the paint,” coach Mark Schmidt said afterward. We had a hard time keeping them out of the paint, and to me that was the key. Them getting to the foul line 29 times, us getting to the foul line (7 times) …

“We’re not blaming the refs; (Siena) did a good job of getting into the paint and we didn’t. That was the difference in the game.”

Welch busted out of an early shooting slump, going 7-for-19 from the field and finishing with a career-high 21 points. Bona made seven first-half 3s, including a trio in the first 4:15, to help offset the Saints’ production inside and go into the break trailing by only three (38-35).

In a game initially characterized by short bursts for either side, it was still a two-possession game with 7:53 left.

Bona, though, perhaps relying too heavily on 3-pointers, went cold and had too many empty possessions over the final seven minutes. Siena, meanwhile, continued to have its way at the rim and hit just enough 3-pointers to keep the defense honest.

And here’s where it left the Bonnies heading into their James Naismith Classic matchup against Rutgers inside Toronto’s ScotiaBank Arena on Saturday: 0-3 for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign and without the Franciscan Cup for the first time since 2015, snapping a streak of three-straight victories.

“They were physical,” said Schmidt, whose team still owns a 6-4 advantage in the all-time Franciscan Cup series. “Give them credit, they had four guys in double figures; (Manny Camper) has 17 rebounds.

“They had 16 fastbreak points, we had two. They were just much more aggressive than we were.”

Pickett, the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, whom Bona held to just four points in last year’s 82-40 decimation of the Saints, avenged that performance, going for 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting and six assists. Elijah Burns, the 6-foot-8 Notre Dame transfer, an equal parts skilled and rugged post presence that Bona doesn’t have at the moment and that eluded the Siena last year, went for 19 points and five boards.

Donald Carey also had 19 points and Camper recorded an impressive 15 points and 17 rebounds.

Clinging to a 60-56 lead, the Saints (2-1) rattled off nine-straight points to push the advantage to double-digits and led comfortably the rest of the way. Bona tallied just four points from the 7:53 mark until just 1:50 remained.

“I don’t think we attacked the paint (enough),” acknowledged Schmidt, whose team was whistled for 20 fouls compared to the Saints’ 11. “It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to throw the ball into the post, (but) we weren’t aggressive and it shows in the fastbreak points. We were just too perimeter-oriented.”

Bona badly missed sophomore center Osun Osunniyi, perhaps the best inside presence defensively in the Atlantic 10, who remains sidelined with a knee injury. It also played almost the entire first half without 6-foot-10 center Amadi Ikpeze, who picked up two quick fouls.

How much of an impact, collectively, did that have on the Bonnies’ struggles in the paint?

“We’re not going to go there,” Schmidt allowed.

Kyle Lofton, too, had his best game of the season offensively, totaling 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting and seven assists and freshman Justin Winston, again, displayed flashes, scoring 10 points for the second-straight night.

But many of the same things that hurt it in home losses to Ohio and Vermont also crept into Tuesday night’s improved effort: Too many fouls. Turnovers in key moments. A lack of scoring when it needs it most.

“The young guys are getting baptized a little bit,” Schmidt said. “(Justin) did some things. The young guys just need to continue to improve and games like this will hopefully help us.”

He added: “We shot the ball better; Dom shot the ball better. We just needed to attack the paint more and get the ball below the foul line. They did a good job of ripping us and turning us over a little bit too.”