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.

The Aggies (12-2, 1-0 SEC) outscored the Longhorns (12-3, 0-1 SEC) 43-23 while holding Texas to 25% shooting after halftime. The Aggies, on the other hand, hit 45% of their shots, while only making one three-pointer, as they successfully attacked the basket repeatedly.

The Aggies crushed Texas in the paint, outscoring the Longhorns 48-16.

The second half outcome would have been hard to predict at intermission, as neither team could gain much separation in the first half. A&M’s largest lead in the first half was just four points and Texas’ eight. The officiating played a huge role, with a total of 20 fouls called in the first 20 minutes. The most consequential was a technical foul on Wade Taylor (13 points), after he hit the Aggies’ only three-pointer of the half. That became a five-point swing to Texas, turning a 27-26 Longhorns lead into a 32-26 advantage.

But the Aggies started to plug away, picking up one foul call after another on a slow 10-0 run to take the lead back after Manny Obaseki (10 points) made a pair of free throws with 4:25 remaining in the half. The remainder of the half went back and forth, with Zhuric Phelps (game-high 18 points) hitting a free throw to tie the game at 37 with five seconds remaining.

“That was a big stretch,” coach Buzz Williams said.

During the half, the Aggies resolved to get back to basics: get to the basket, draw fouls and play defense.

“We kind of talked about getting back to our habits, getting back to who we are,” center Pharrell Payne (15 points) said.

Texas went into the locker room shooting 43% from the field and having made six of 14 three pointers. They would find the sledding far more difficult after halftime.

A&M came out of the locker room with a 7-0 run, but Taylor suffered an apparent left arm injury scoring the first points of the half. Phelps picked up the slack immediately, scoring seven of the next nine points on a three-point play, a layup and then a dunk off a steal to make the score 48-39.

The Aggies then began to go straight at the basket, with Henry Coleman grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring on a put-back of an Andersson Garcia miss to push A&M’s lead into double-digits for the first time. The Aggies would push their lead to as much as 13 before a scoring slump that included four three-point attempts that didn’t even draw iron allowed Texas to claw back to within 57-52 with 7:48 remaining in the game.

But Texas had two problems: they weren’t making baskets and the Aggies started to establish Payne in the low post.

After hitting the six first half threes, Texas made only one of 12 attempts in the second half as the Aggies extended their defense to beyond the three-point line.

A key moment came on the next possession, when Garcia missed a three-pointer but Hayden Hefner snagged the rebound and laid it in to snap the Texas run and put A&M up 59-52.

“(Hefner’s) probably the least talented player that played in the Lone Star showdown. But it's hard to it's hard to grade guts. He's got big guts,” Williams said. “I shook his hand before Jump ball, and I go, ‘You see all them real dudes out there?’ He goes, ‘Yes, sir.’ I said, ‘That’s because you're a real dude. Get after it.”’

Hefner ended up with nine points, including one of A&M’s two three-pointers in 19 attempts, three offensive rebounds and an assist. After Hefner stopped the bleeding, Payne took over. He made three of A&M’s next four baskets at point-blank range as the Aggies pushed their lead back to 13 with 4:41 left.

“My whole thing is being aggressive. If I get the ball in the post, be aggressive. Try to go at them,” he said.

Payne would end up scoring A&M’s last basket from the field, a thunderous dunk on an ally-oop pass from Payne that sent Solomon Washington running back up the court with his hands on his face in a mock look of shock as he passed the Texas bench.

“Give those guys credit. They came out and put their head down and got points in the paint,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “We got some good looks, we just didn’t make some shots. Their shots were at the rims; ours were perimeter shots.”

The Aggies shot 47.4% from the field for the game, in spite of going two of 19 from beyond the arc. Texas shot 34.6% and ended up making seven of 26 three-pointers.

There were 41 fouls called in the game, 24 against Texas and 17 against A&M. The Aggies outscored the Longhorns 24-17 at the charity stripe.

Hefner out-rebounded Garcia on the offensive glass three to nothing, a fact not lost to him. "No (I never thought I'd see it), and it may never happen again," Hefner said.

A&M out-rebounded Texas 41-31 and 11 to five on the offensive glass.

Texas turned the ball over 12 times to A&M's seven.

Texas fired up five airballs in the game; A&M had four.

Obaseki and Phelps were a combined 12 of 14 from the free throw line.