Chad Cross, a DFW native, began his career in the roofing industry in 1996. Out of a desire to provide quality and excellence in customer service, Chad launched his own company, CLC Roofing, Inc. in 1999. Chad is a second-generation Aggie, a member of the Class of ‘94 and was a member of the Corps of Cadets Squadron 12. Chad is married to wife Lynee ‘95 and they have 3 Aggie sons: Cade ‘22, Carson ‘25 and Chase ‘27. Chad enjoys playing golf, reading, watching sports and spending time with family at their home in Southlake, Texas. As multi-sport season ticket holders, Chad and Lynee are blessed to spend a lot of time in Aggieland attending Aggie sports events.Chad has more than 25 years of experience in the roofing industry, including sales, project management, manufacturer representation, as well as catastrophe adjusting. Chad and his team at CLC Roofing, Inc. strive to make sure clients just like you receive the level of excellence in service and workmanship that you deserve! For your roofing needs, contact Chad Cross at (972) 304-4431 or info@clcroofing.com and mention Aggieyell.com.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — After an opening night collapse against UCF, No. 13 Texas A&M needed a cupcake to feel better about things. They got one in their first home game of the season and squashed it.
Newly renamed East Texas A&M was the victim, as the Aggies (1-1) jumped out to an early lead and were never seriously challenged in a 87-55 rout of the Lions before 8,673 at Reed Arena.
"I thought we did a lot of really good things," coach Buzz Williams said. "I thought that some of the things that we have practiced, that we've shown, that we've talked about since Monday night was much more prominent tonight, which is a positive thing."
A&M opened the game on a 7-0 run and quickly doubled up East Texas 15-7 behind a pair of three-point baskets from Hayden Hefner (13 points, 2 blocks, 2 steals) and one by Wade Taylor (10 points, 6 assists). SMU transfer Zhuric Phelps (game-high 18 points in 18 minutes) made his Aggie debut with slightly less than five minutes gone in the game and immediately made an impact, slashing to the basket for a layup, then getting a steal and drawing a shooting foul in his first 30 seconds.
"He's a really talented player," Williams said, noting that the plan was to play Phelps between 16 and 18 minutes as he continues to recover from a preseason injury. "If you know his game, you saw some of that tonight, but you also saw a lot of what he can bring to us on both ends of the floor."
Getting to the basket would be a recurring theme for the Aggies, as they shot 56% from the field for the game — 59% in the first half — as A&M sped past hapless Lions defenders to get in the lane.
"At Central Florida, we shot 33 layups. We only made 15, and tonight we made 70% of our layups," Williams said.
After Solomon Washington (4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks) made a nice close-in jumper to make the score 25-9, Minnesota transfer Pharrell Payne (8 points, 6 rebounds) scored the next the next three points with a free throw and a tip-in. Manny Obaseki scored on a dunk after a Washington block to make it 30-9 as East Texas endured a five-minute, 20-second scoring drought.
After an East Texas three made the score 31-12, Henry Coleman III (14 points, 8 rebounds) went on a personal 6-0 run with a pair of close-in baskets and a pair of free throws to make it 37-12 with six minutes, 38 seconds left in the first half. Coleman would quickly add an assist with a bullet pass to Jace Carter across the lane for another layup.
Phelps then had a 5-0 run of his own, with a pair of layups and a free throw to push the lead to 44-15. The Aggies would go 3:13 without a point down the stretch, but still went into the half with a 50-24 lead.
Taylor, who very rarely comes off the court, wasn’t needed much after intermission as Phelps, Obaseki, Coleman and Payne kept finding their way to the rim or scoring off of offense rebounds. After Hefner hit his third three of the night and hit a fadeaway at the top of the key — followed by a block at the other end — the Aggies would make their next five baskets at or near the rim, pushing their lead to as much as 35 points at 66-31 with 12:34 to go in the game.
For Obaseki, who had only two points against UCF, scoring 14 points in 17 minutes was a refreshing change.
"I was kind of into my head, starting to say negative things. Think negative," he said. "But then I just kind of remembered, I put in a lot of work."
After Taylor hit a runner off the backboard, Coleman and and Phelps scored A&M’s next 12 points at or near the rim. After Phelps made an acrobatic up and under layup, the Aggies were up 30 at 78-48 with five minutes, 36 seconds left.
"It wasn't necessarily the plan," Phelps said of A&M's ability to get to the rim. "I think me and Manny, we were just taking they were just giving us straight line drives, and you know, we just took advantage of that."
A&M would end up with 32 points on layups as they shot six three-pointers after halftime. East Texas finished the game shooting 38% from the field and made just seven of 24 three-point attempts.
Phelps missed A&M's first game due to injury, but it was important for him to return for this game as his brother, Evan (5 points) plays for East Texas.
"I played against him last year, but it's a great feeling," Zhuric Phelps said.
