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.

Wade Taylor and Manny Obaseki scored 15 points and Zhuric Phelps added 14 as No. 23 Texas A&M (3-1) punished No. 21 Ohio State (2-1) 78-64 before 11,658 fans at Reed Arena Friday night.

The game could be best described as ugly, with 45 fouls and 22 turnovers between the two teams.

The Aggies, who have been a notoriously poor free throw shooting team over the past several seasons, sank 32 of their 40 attempts at the penalty stripe, while Ohio State only had 22 attempts in the game.

“We got the same test today that we got at UCF…and we had to make sure we passed this one,” Taylor said.

The first half was frenetic, with both teams sprinting up and down the court with little to show for it. It took three minutes for the Aggies to score, and that was good enough to tie the game. That started a 12-0 run over the next four minutes — with 6 of those points coming from the free throw line.

“Within the first five minutes of the game, we knew they couldn’t guard us,” Obaseki said, “So they started fouling us.”

Taylor capped the run with a three-pointer, which was just A&M’s second basket from the field, to make it 12-3 with 12:54 to go in the half.

The Aggies would push their lead to as much as 12 at 17-5, as it would take Ohio State more than 13 minutes to get to double-digits. But A&M was nearly as bad from the field and was only up 18-12 with 6:30 to go in the half. Taylor hit four straight free throws as the Aggies entered the double bonus to push the lead back up to 10, and Manny Obaseki responded to an Ohio State three with one of his own to make it 25-15 with 3:40 left. Four quick points from Hayden Hefner (7 points) helped A&M go into the locker room with a 31-22 lead.

“Defensively, we were tremendous in the first half,” coach Buzz Williams said. “Analytically, I’d say it’s the best half we’ve had.”

The second half was, comparatively, a scoring explosion — in between the fouls, that is.

A&M started the half with a pair of three-pointers from Phelps and Taylor to push the lead to 37-22, facing a quick Ohio State timeout. The Buckeyes would get a basket from Micah Parrish, but Parrish would be hit with a Flagrant 1 foul on Solomon Washington on A&M’s next possession, giving the Aggies two free throws and the ball. After Washington and Andersson Garcia, who was fouled on the ensuing possession, drained all four free throws, The Aggies were up 41-24 with 16:55 left.

“Their speed and physicality was hard to prepare for,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “They have versatility.”

Ohio State’s John Mobley hit back-to-back threes to cut A&M’s lead to 12, but Taylor would score and a goaltend and was fouled in the process to push the lead back to 15. CJ WIlcher (6 points) hit a three on the Aggies’ next possession, putting the Aggies up 51-33 with 12:26 remaining.

But fouls began to take their toll on both teams and Garcia and Taylor were both sent to the bench with four fouls with more than nine minutes left in the game.

Ohio State would cut the A&M lead to 11 with 9:03 to go, but Obaseki made an acrobatic up and under layup and drew a foul just 20 seconds later.

Williams said he had a sense that Obaseki was going to have a quality performance before the game even started based off his work in practice.

“I said, ‘I could be really wrong, but I think Mo’s going to have a big game,’” he said.

Hayden Hefner followed an Ohio State basket with a three-pointer to make the score 62-47 with 8:19 left, and then both teams began of protracted period of trudging back and forth to the free throw line. After a basket Parrish cut the lead to 13, the next eight points, over more than two minutes, were scored at the free throw line.

“Their relentless attack of the paint was evident in their 40 free throw attempts,” Diebler said. “It was called particularly tight at times and we have to be more technical when they’re driving…but give them credit. It’s a smart play on their part.”

Phelps, who had just one free throw make at the half, changed his shoes and his luck in the locker room. He would score 13 in the second stanza, helping to keep Ohio State at bay.

“We had a talk with Z at halftime because he didn’t have a good first half … he changed his shoes,” Taylor said.

As Ohio State began to tire and struggle with fouls, forward Henry Coleman took over. He scored 10 of his 12 in the final five minutes, 33 seconds of the game. Even though Taylor fouled out with 2:03 left, the offense remained efficient.

“I still don’t think Zu has even approached his ceiling,” Williams said. “CJ (Wilcher)’s staring to figure it out a little bit. The consistency of (Hefner) has been great … and Henry has had the best two weeks he’s had in November since two years ago.”

The Buckeyes, who hit 14 three-pointers in their 80-72 win at Texas, made only eight of 30 attempts tonight as the Aggies played furious defense on the perimeter.

“We guarded the three pretty well tonight,” Taylor said. “We changed how we guard certain players based on their skill sets.”

It took a hot-shooting second half for the two teams to get to respectable levels. After shooting 22% in the first half, Ohio State ended up shooting 34% for the game; the Aggies, who shot 24% in the first 20 minutes, ended up shooting 39%.

The Aggies will take a three-game winning streak into their Wednesday matchup with Southern before playing Oregon and Creighton in Las Vegas.

“This was a big win,” Obaseki said. “We needed this win.”

Diebler was suitably impressed by what he saw from the Aggies. “That’s a really good team,” he said.

Both teams were without rotation players for either part or all of the game. A&M guard Jace Carter was injured in practice Thursday and did not play; Ohio State guard Ques Glover suffered an ankle injury early in the first half, returned for a stretch but came to the bench early in the second half and did not return.

The Aggies, who thrive on offensive rebounds, were actually topped by Ohio State in that category 13-12.

A&M out-rebounded Ohio State overall, 39-33.

Ohio State’s Devin Royal fouled out with 4:11 to go in the game; two other Aggies and one Buckeye ended the game with four fouls.

A&M got 40 points from four bench players — Obaseki, Coleman, Hefner and Wilcher.