STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Four turnovers in the first half, including three that led directly to scores, doomed Missouri S&T Saturday as it fell for the third straight week in a 29-10 loss at Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

The Pointers scored their first 17 points as a result of S&T turnovers. The first score came after the Miners' initial possession of the game ended as starting quarterback Trent Welbern (Fort Smith, Ark./Southside) was intercepted by Curtis Krump and his return took the ball to the Miners' six-yard line.

Jared Jenkins (Edmond, Okla./Heritage Hall) caught a scoring pass from Jake Swank on the next play to put the Pointers on top.

After the teams swapped punts, the Miners got on the scoreboard after Smook Thomas (Quincy, Fla./East Gadsden)' 42-yard punt return gave them the ball at the Pointers' 38-yard line. After getting one first down on the drive, S&T had to settle for a 36-yard field goal from Joe Drahos (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) to cut the lead to 7-3.

The Miners drove into UW-Stevens Point territory on their next possession as well, but faced with fourth-and-one on the UWSP 38, they elected to go for the first down. However, Bobby Pettis (Hickory Hills, Ill./Argo) was hit behind the line of scrimmage and fumbled, which UWSP recovered to end the threat.

Keith Ingram's 32-yard run two plays later put the Pointers deep in Miner territory and they were able to add to their lead on a 33-yard field goal by Jared Fohrman, the first of five he would kick in the contest.

Early in the second quarter, the Pointers extended their lead when Colton Zimmerman picked off a Matt Elliott (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider) pass and brought it back 42 yards for a score to make it 17-3.

S&T answered right back, driving 66 yards on 11 plays to get into the end zone. The Miners moved into Pointer territory when Steve Watson (Berkeley, Ill./Walther Lutheran) connected with Alex Bennett (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) on a 28-yard pass play, then another pass to Bennett covering 21 yards took them to the UWSP 17.

The Miners faced another fourth down play moments later after an intentional grounding call and again chose to go for it, but this time they struck gold when Watson hit Dexter Bryant (Pasadena, Calif./LaSalle) with a 23-yard touchdown pass to trim the lead to seven.

Fohrman kicked two more field goals before the end of the half, on kicks of 30 and 20 yards, to give the Pointers a 23-10 advantage at the half. He added field goals of 29 and 40 yards in the second half to close the scoring.

S&T struggled on the offensive side of the ball for much of the day, finishing with just 229 yards of total offense. Following their touchdown drive, the Miners had only 75 yards on their last seven possessions, 49 of which came on a drive midway through the fourth quarter that ended with the fifth turnover of the day.

Watson completed 15-of-25 passes for 160 yards on the day, with Thomas – who had 16 receptions in last season's meeting between the team -- hauling in a game-high eight passes for 52 yards. Kevin Dillon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) added four catches for 56 yards as the Miners had 207 yards through the air. However, S&T gained only 22 yards on the ground in Saturday's contest.

UW-Stevens Point finished with 249 yards on the ground – 138 coming from Mike Griffin – and 305 total yards. Lonnell Jones (Kansas City, Mo./Ruskin) and Brandyn Mueller (Troy, Ill./Triad) had five tackles apiece to lead S&T.

The Miners return home for their next two contests, beginning with a 1 p.m. game next Saturday against Wisconsin-LaCrosse (0-2) at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.