As defensive coordinator on Rye’s football team, Tom Proudian was a key component of Rye’s legendary, undefeated state championship season.
Hours after winning the Class A title last Friday at Syracuse, he was already making notes about his basketball team on the bus ride home. They had a scrimmage … the next morning.
“The four kids from our football team who play basketball — Carson Miller, Henry Shoemaker, Sebastian Lewis, and Luke Denvir — were all there Saturday morning for our scrimmage,” said Proudian, the basketball team’s head coach. “You want to know how I know we’re gonna be OK as a basketball team? It’s because of kids like that. They just love to compete, and they’re great kids.”
With just four days of practice as a team, Rye tipped off the season with back-to-back games Friday and Saturday at the fifth-annual Keith D. Yizar Memorial Tournament, an event named for a long-adored Mamaroneck High School faculty member who died suddenly in 2020.
The Garnets lost their season-opener 51-39 thanks mostly to a blistering first quarter by Byram Hills.
“Football shape is not basketball shape, and vice versa,” Proudian said. “A couple of guys on this team are coming down from a state championship football season. It may be 50 years before we see another team like that in Rye. They’ve certainly earned a break, but that’s not in their makeup. We’ve had four practices as a team. We’ve implemented some changes from last year, we’ve got some new guys. We need some time, but we’ll get there.”
After the Bobcats won the opening quarter 18-4, Rye outscored them 35-33 the rest of the way. Shoemaker and Denvir both scored 15 points for Rye, and Miller added nine.
And here’s a post-holiday bonus date for your new 2026 calendar: Rye plays Byram Hills again at home on Friday, Jan. 9.
In game two of the tournament the next afternoon against Ardsley, the Garnets began to find their basketball season flow. In a 51-33 win against the Panthers, every player on Rye’s varsity roster got some live-game action.
Shoemaker, who was named to the all-tournament team, finished with 10 points. Miller had 12, tied for the game-high with Lewis, who was shaking off a sore shoulder from the night before. Junior southpaw Luke Scully also added 10.
And so it begins for the defending Section 1 champions. With two games remaining before the holiday break – tonight at Eastchester, and Monday at Harrison – Proudian believes his team will be just fine.
“We have a group of kids who are extremely athletic, they’re committed to their teammates, proud of their school and community, and they want to win,” he said.
