SYRACUSE — Live by the three, die by the three.

That time-honored lesson has caught up with the Friars in the last week. After draining 14 3-pointers to win at Connecticut, the success of the PC offense has all but boiled down to its long-range accuracy. Against Seton Hall, PC made just 6 of 23 threes and lost by 13 points. Yesterday at the Carrier Dome, the Friars began the game shooting the ball horribly and found themselves in deep trouble.

PC made just 1 of 12 tries in the first half, then, almost out of nowhere, several players caught fire. Dwain Williams and Jeff Xavier both swished deep threes that keyed a second-half comeback and set up a tough final six minutes. Williams kept rolling and finished with five 3-pointers while Xavier had four. But the Friars made just 12 of 33 (36 percent) shots from inside the 3-point line.

Coach Tim Welsh made it a point to scan the stat sheet after the game and note that four of his five starters combined for four points. Geoff McDermott and Weyinmi Efejuku, two vital players for the Friars, both failed to score, on 0-for-9 shooting.

“Four starters got four points. That’s something to be concerned about,” said Welsh. “Those guys have to play better. You can’t have zero, zero, two, two. We have to get more balance in our scoring. At the end, Dwain and X did a great job getting us back in the game and taking the lead, but we need more balance. Our guys have to be more confident out there and play better offense.”

Getting away from relying so much on the 3-point shot is going to be a key for the Friars, but it may not be possible. Welsh has gone away from using Randall Hanke, his team’s best low-post scorer, because of rebounding and defensive issues. The Friars got a strong offensive game from Jonathan Kale (16 points), but he was the only Friar to supply much scoring punch down low.