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.

Down 12 at one point in the first half, the Aggies cut the Commodores (19-9, 7-8 SEC) lead to two by halftime. Vanderbilt led by as much as eight with 19 seconds remaining, but a furious comeback came up just short.

“I felt like we deserved to win, but they almost pulled it from us,” Commodores coach Mark Byington said.

The Aggies (20-8, 9-6 SEC) dropped their third straight game and, once again, inept shooting was the cause. Pharrel Payne set a personal high in points as an Aggie with 23, making nine of 13 shots, but he and guard C.J. Wilcher (12 points) were the only Aggie to shoot 50% or better from the field. A&M had three stretches during the game where they went more than four minutes without a basket from the field, and two of those lasted for more than five minutes.

“There can't be as much inconsistency as we've had over the last 10 days,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “We're not doing as good of a job as we've proven we can do."

Guard Wade Taylor, who had 21 points, only made three of 10 shots from the floor; 13 of his points came from the free throw line, as he became the all-time Aggie leader in free throws made. He also turned the ball over five times. Guard Zhuric Phelps scored 14 points on five of 13 shooting. Andersson Garcia was one of five from the field, and guard Manny Obaseki was zero for five in six minutes.

Taylor was two of six shooting 3-pointers, making him two for his last 15 over the past two games.

Taylor was far from the only Aggie to have trouble shooting from 3-point distance. A&M was seven of 22 (31.8%) from behind the arc while shooting just 37.1% for the game. The Aggies made 23 shots on 62 attempts.

Over the past two games, A&M has made 12 of 52 3-point shots, an anemic 23%.

A single Commodore made as many 3-pointers as the entire Aggie team. Junior forward Tyler Nickel (21 points) scored all of his points from beyond the arc, making seven of 13 attempts. The seven are a career high. Vanderbilt made 10 of 24 3-pointers (41.7%) while shooting 41.4% overall.

“He's a high-level shooter; we knew that going into the game,” Wilcher said of Nickel. “We didn't execute what we talked about.”

The Aggies turned the ball over 12 times, which led to 12 Commodores points. A&M scored six points off of nine Vanderbilt turnovers.

Payne was a force all night, dominating Vandy big men Jaylen Kerry and Devin McGlockton. McGlockton fouled out with four points and 10 rebounds and was hit with a technical foul in the first half after getting tangled up with Payne; Carey scored eight points and had four fouls. The Commodores ended the game with four players with four fouls and one fouled out, leading to the Aggies shooting 39 free throws. They would make 31 (80%), allowing them to stay in the game. Vandy wasn’t shortchanged; they shot 32 free throws as both teams made one trip after another to the line in the final two minutes of the game. A total of 28 free throws were attempted during that span.

In spite of their scoring woes, the Aggies nearly had their last-ditch effort pay off. After Vandy went up 80-72 with 33 seconds left, Phelps got a quick layup. The Aggies fouled with just one second coming off the clock, but Vandy’s Jason Edwards sunk both free throws with 25 seconds remaining.

Phelps was fouled, keeping the free throw extravaganza going, and he made both of his attempts with 20 seconds to go. Edwards hit another two free throws, but Wilcher sank a 3 with 13 seconds left. MJ Collins made two more free throws for the Commodores, but Phelps got a quick layup.

Vandy’s Tyler Tanner turned the ball over with 5 seconds remaining, and Phelps hit a 3-pointer to narrow the margin to two with a second left. Vandy turned the ball over again, and A&M had a final chance at a tip-in with .2 seconds remaining, but the effort fell short.