Lester C. Abram, Jr. (born September 2, 1983, in Pontiac, Michigan) is an American former college basketball player (shooting guard).
Abram was named team captain during his senior year at University of Michigan, making him the Wolverines' first three-time captain. He has made quite a profile throughout Michigan. Playing in 120 career games, he tied for No. 18 all-time. He started 106 career games, tying for 10th all-time. He scored 1,274 career points (No. 26 all-time), shot 82.93 percent for career on free throws (No. 2 all-time), and had 345 free throws made (No. 10 all-time). As well, he set freshman (85.6 percent) and sophomore (84.3 percent) records for free-throw percentage in a season. He has played a career of 3,513 career minutes, the twelfth of all time.
Career
Prep
Abram played for Pontiac Northern High School and was coached by Robert Rogers. In his prep career, he averaged 19.0 points per game and came in third for the 2002 Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award. Abram led Pontiac Northern to back-to-back Class A state titles and missed only one career game (finishing with an 81–21 career record). Additionally, he was a four-year starter and a two-year captain, playing four different positions. During his freshman year (1999), he averaged 14.1 points and led Pontiac Northern to the Michigan Class A State semifinal game; he also played for an AAU team, and was coached by Durand Walker. As a sophomore (2000), he averaged 14.1 points and led Pontiac Northern to a 17–5 record. As a junior (in 2001), he averaged 20.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists and led Pontiac Northern to the Class A State Championship title. His senior year (in 2002), he averaged 22.7 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks. Abram led Pontiac Northern to a 23–4 record and the Class A State title, where he earned co-Most Valuable Player honors.
In 2000, Abram made the Detroit News Class A All-State as an honorable mention, All-Metro honorable mention, All-North second team (2000), Detroit Free Press Class A All-State honorable mention (2000), and USA Today's Michigan “Players to Watch” (2000).
Moreover, he was selected as a member of the following teams: Top 100 selection for the McDonald's All-American Team Detroit News Dream Team All-Metro first team All-North first team (2002) Detroit Free Press Dream Team All-Metro first team (for which he was selected as the captain) All-North first team (where again, he was named captain) (2002) Oakland Press Oakland County Dream Team (2002) Associated Press Class A All-State first team (2001)
Freshman (2002–03) Abram won U-M's 2003 Iron Man Award and U-M's 2003 Award for Outstanding Free Throw Shooting. He played in all 30 games (with 28 starts). Following an 0–6 start, he helped U-M to a 13-game winning streak and third place in the Big Ten. He helped his team win at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion (81–76) December 28, 2002. Next, Lester helped U-M break an eight-game losing streak against Michigan State on January 26, 2003. His first collegiate game and start was against St. Bonaventure at the Paradise Jam tournament on November 23, where he had 11 points, 3 rebounds and one block. Abram set U-M's freshman record shooting 85.6 percent on free throws (89-for-104).
During one 18-game stretch, he never missed a shot from the free throw line. He averaged 10.6 points per game (319 points total) and scored in double figures in 16 games. He had one game scoring 20 or more points, with a season-high 20 points against IUPUI on January 4, 2003. Abram was the highest scorer in six games. In all, he averaged 4.4 rebounds per game (131 total). His season-high nine rebounds was in a game against Iowa on (February 8, 2003). He played 32.1 minutes per game.
Sophomore (2003–04) Abram was a member of the 2004 NIT Championship team and 2004 all-Big Ten, third team. He won U-M's 2004 Bill Buntin Most Valuable Player Award, U-M's 2004 Travis Conlan Sportsmanship Award, U-M's 2004 Award for Outstanding Free Throw Shooting, U-M's 2004 Iron Man Award, and CBS Player of the Game against Wisconsin on February 22, 2004. His next honors were ESPN2 Player of the Game and Four-time ESPN-Plus Player of the Game. He missed three games after suffering a left shoulder injury in a collision with Iowa's Greg Brunner in the Big Ten tournament. Abram came back with 17 points, five rebounds, and two steals in a game against Hawaii on March 24, 2004. This injury caused Abram to snap a streak of playing in 58 consecutive games.