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.

And so the fourth-seeded Aggies are knocked out in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in the second round for the second straight year, 91-79 by the fifth-seeded Michigan Wolverines. A&M (23-11) led for more than half the game, but fell into habits that plagued them going back to the season opening loss at UCF. This time, it cost them dearly.

A&M led 40-36 at the end of the first half, even though Wade Taylor had no points after picking up two quick fouls. But Pharrel Payne dominated from the moment he entered the game, scoring 14 points with hook shots, put-backs and alley-oops. The Aggies also got three 3-pointers from Andersson Garcia (11 points, 6 rebounds) to stay just ahead of the Wolverines.

“I thought Pharrel played unbelievable,” forward Henry Coleman said.

But the recipe for A&M’s doom had already been stirred. Both Taylor and Solomon Washington had two fouls by intermission and Michigan was in the bonus with 8:56 to go in the half. On the other end, center Vladislav Goldin (23 points, 12 rebounds) and forward Danny Wolf (14 points, 9 rebounds) were not called when making repeated contact with Payne and Henry Coleman (2 points, 6 rebounds).

It was bad enough that coach Buzz Williams spent an entire media timeout berating the officiating crew of Pat Driscoll, Byron Jarrett and Earl Walton for what he perceived as one-sided officiating. One of the nation’s top teams at getting to the free throw line never got Michigan in the bonus in the first half.

“We played with a low turnover rate, but for us, we are dependent on shooting more balls from the field and from the free-throw line. And so to get in the bonus, to allow them in the bonus so quickly both halves goes against us,” Williams said.

When Taylor (14 points, 4 assists) got back on the court after halftime, he went to work immediately. He picked up a pair of quick layups to put A&M up 45-37.

The Aggies pushed their lead to double digits on a 3-pointer by C.J. Wilcher with 15:46 left; Washington was whistled for his third foul 15 seconds later, putting Goldin at the line. Payne added a putback to put A&M up 53-43, but Roddy Gayle Jr. hit a jumper to cut the lead to eight. The Aggies didn’t realize it at the time, but Gayle was about to erupt.

After Taylor scored again to push the lead back to 10, Payne was hit with a foul that led to two free throws. The Aggies got their lead back up to 10 again, but Payne (26 points off the bench) hit a 3 to cut the lead back to seven.

Payne, who dominated to the tune of 26 points in 25 minutes, responded with a three-point play of his own to give A&M a 60-50 lead with 13:17 remaining. But Michigan would then go on a 7-1 run, cutting the lead to four. Payne slammed down an alley-oop from Taylor to push the lead to six, but Goldin picked up two free throws on the other end on a questionable call against Garcia.

After a missed 3 by Taylor, Gayle was fouled by Garcia and the Wolverines hit two more free throws, making it a two point game. Payne scored again with 9:59 remaining to give A&M a four point lead, but it would be the last time he would score from the field.

Gayle hit a three to make it a 67-64 game with 8:48 left, then scored on a layup to make it 67-66. But Taylor came down and sank a long-distance 3-pointer to make it 70-66 with 7:58 remaining.

And then the Aggies, who had avoided shooting droughts for a game and three quarters, had an epic one. They would go five minutes, 51 seconds without a basket from the field and endured a 15-2 Michigan run to see their lead collapse and turn into nine-point deficit.

“I thought we were getting good shots … it just didn’t fall,” Taylor said. “I didn’t think the shots we shot were bad.”

But A&M had one more burst left, started by a pair of free throws from Washington and a Zhuric Phelps lay-in with 2:07 remaining. Phelps (6 points) would then hit a pair of free throws to cut Michigan’s lead to three, but Michigan’s Tre Donaldson hit an extremely difficult shot to push the lead back to five.

On the next possession, Taylor lined up a clean 3-pointer that went halfway down before spinning out with 52 seconds left. Michigan grabbed the rebound, which essentially sealed the win.

“If it goes in, we’re down two,” Taylor said. “I thought it was going in.”

Michigan, who had been in the bonus since the 10:18 mark of the second half, then hit their free throws to make the score appear more lopsided.

The Wolverines shot 36 free throws, making 29 of them; A&M went to the line 10 fewer times, making 18 attempts. The Aggie defense, which had been one of the nation’s best coming into the game, gave up 56 points after halftime.

“We didn’t finish at the rim, we let them get in the bonus too much … and we didn’t protect the rim as well as we have. Too often, we weren’t scoring, but more importantly, we weren’t getting stops,” Williams said.

Before leaving the podium for the last time as an Aggie, Coleman spoke from the heart about his university and his teammates.

“(A&M) impacted our lives, truthfully changed all of our lives, and I think we're thankful for it. It's changed my life,” he said. “We didn't hit every shot. We didn't get every rebound. We didn't get every steal. But we damn sure tried.”