For the second time this year, it had staged a relentless comeback against one of the league’s better teams, turning an early 13-point deficit into a delightful, if short-lived, one-point lead.

In doing so, it checked a number of boxes that it had failed to a season earlier.

The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team did a night-and-day job on imposing Saint Louis big man Hasahn French. It kept double-double machine Jordan Goodwin under control. It stood up to the Billikens physically, nearly matching them on the glass and limiting their production in the paint.

This time, however, despite those efforts, it couldn’t quite finish it.

Bona, still within one with 8:16 remaining, faltered down the stretch, dropping a 70-59 decision before a COVID-reduced crowd of about 800 on Saturday inside Chaifetz Arena. That marked the end of the Bonnies’ seven-game win streak and brought a simmer to their sizzling 9-1 start.

It was also a missed opportunity for Bona (9-2, 7-2), which failed in its chance to procure another big, resume-building victory.

“WE DUG ourselves a hole,” acknowledged coach Mark Schmidt, whose team fell behind 13-2 by the first media timeout and trailed by counts of 17-4 and 20-7 before making its push. “Give our guys credit, we fought back and we took the lead (early in the second half) …

“That’s a good team, they were really desperate (after an 0-2 start in Atlantic 10 play). We didn’t play great, but we played hard and dealt with some adversity. For us to … come out and play well (into the second half), that gave us some hope. But they took control again and that was the difference.”

Rather than a repeat of last year, when it fell into a similarly ugly hole en route to a 72-49 defeat, Bona rallied, pulling to within five at halftime (36-31) and scoring the first six points of the second frame to take a 37-36 lead.

With 8:16 left, Dominick Welch hit a double-clutch 3-pointer falling to his right, an almost impossible shot that brought the Bonnies back to within one (50-49). That’s when it seemed as if maybe this would be Bona’s day after all.

But that’s as close to a win as Schmidt’s group would get.

BONA, seemingly fatigued by the combination of its short bench and an aggressive Saint Louis team, went scoreless over the next six minutes, going 0-for-7 with a couple of turnovers. The Billikens (8-3, 1-2) embarked upon a 9-0 spurt in that stretch to go back up by 10, all but putting the game away.

The difference in that segment?

“I don’t know, I’d have to watch the tape,” allowed Schmidt, whose team remained in first (a half-game up on VCU and Davidson) in the league standings despite the loss, “but I would assume we probably turned the ball over a couple times, we probably missed some shots and probably made some mistakes defensively. But it just seemed like whenever we made a mistake, they made us pay for it.

“To me, that was the difference,” he added, pointing to SLU’s 18-14 edge in points off turnovers.

A year after being dominated by French, Bona silenced him, holding the 6-foot-7 forward scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting. Osun Osunniyi (8 rebounds) did an admirable job in that matchup, limiting French’s touches while totaling a season-high five blocks.

Goodwin, meanwhile, had a pedestrian nine points and six rebounds.

The Billikens, though, filled that void by getting a big outing from leading scorer Javonte Perkins, who totaled 21 points, including 17 after halftime, and from the 3-point line, hitting 11-of-27 after averaging just 6.5 coming in.

Another key factor was the punch provided by reserves Marten Linssen (8 points) and Demarius Jacobs (11 points, 3 treys), who helped the Billikens to a 25-4 advantage in bench points.

Bona, once again, received little time, or production, from its reserves, playing three guys a total of 20 minutes. Schmidt, though, wasn’t particularly concerned about the fatigue or depth issue in the aftermath.

“I think if you look at it, it was two players (who accounted for Saint Louis’ numbers off the bench),” said the 14th-year coach, who had four of five starters play at least 37 minutes. “They played seven guys, we played seven guys. Those two kids coming off the bench had 19 points, so that was the difference.

“It’s not like they came off with eight new guys. Those two kids were the difference.”

KYLE Lofton had a strong all-around effort, totaling 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting with five assists, five rebounds and five steals.

Jaren Holmes, who sat the final 14 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, notched 12 points while Jalen Adaway added 10. But once again, Bona struggled against the Billikens offensively, connecting on just 4-of-17 from distance until the final two minutes, shooting 36 percent and once again failing to crack 60 points.

On that front, Osunniyi, whose touches are a big key to opening things up offensively, had just three field goal attempts. And that — not depth (despite some evidently tired legs) and not the physical component — was why Bona came up short in this one, Schmidt said.

“I knew our guys were going to meet the challenge physically,” he maintained. “We just needed to play better, execute better at both ends. I thought ‘Shoon did a terrific job inside blocking shots, keeping guys in front and so forth, but it was just the execution part. We have some tough guys and it wasn’t going to be a toughness issue, it was going to be more of an execution thing, and that’s where we failed.”