Senior forward Anthony Vereen shoots over two Baylor defenders in Waco Saturday night. Vereen led the Mavs with 28 points in the 79-76 loss at the Ferrell Center. (The Shorthorn: Stephen Peters)

Vereen, with a smile after the game, said the shot before the buzzer felt good.

“Every time I see [a shot] I feel like it’s going in,” Vereen said. “It’s just one of those days that it didn’t fall.”

The Mavericks (4-5) suffer their fourth straight loss, the first such streak since 2006-07, and fall to 1-4 on the road this season.

UTA led for much the game, and by as many as 11 early in the second half, but could not maintain the momentum as late turnovers helped the Bears storm back.

Head coach Scott Cross said his team came out very well prepared to play the Bears but made critical mistakes toward the end of the game, proving to be the difference.

“Our guys played their butts off and unfortunately for us [Jerrells] kind of took over the game and got to the free throw line.”

The Mavs led at the end of the first half 41-32 after shooting 58.6 percent from the field to Baylor’s 35.5 percent, positioning the team for its first-ever victory against a ranked-opponent.

However, the tide turned as Baylor relied on its senior leaders to penetrate the lane and force late turnovers to tie the game and even take a 5-point lead.

Baylor head coach Scott Drew gave credit to the Mavs and Cross for their preparation into this game.

"First off all, credit UTA for coming out and having a great game plan," Drew said. "Coach Cross does a very good job with them."

The second half became the Curtis Jerrells show as he scored 24 of his game-high 29 in the second half, leading his team to victory. Sixteen of the 29 points coming from the three-throw line.

At will, Jerrells was able to take any one of Maverick defenders off the dribble and get to the bucket.

Cross said, prior to the game, he wanted to limit Baylor in three-pointers made because he felt the Bears were one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. UTA held the Bears to eight made 3-pointers on 24 attempts (33.3 percent).

Aside from Vereen, three other Mavericks scored double-digit points including junior forward Tommy Moffitt with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Baylor outrebounded the Mavs 40-29 and had 21 offensive rebounds led by senior forward Kevin Rogers 13 boards, nine on the offensive end.

Jerrells, by himself, outshot the entire Maverick team from the free-throw line with 17 attempts to UTA’s 13 attempts.

The Bears improve to 11-1 against the Mavericks and UTA is now 0-16 all-time against ranked opponents.

The Mavs continue their current 10-game road trip with a game against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

“Hopefully we will continue to improve, pick it up and one of these road games it will pay off,” Vereen said.

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