Posted: Thursday, May 7, 2009 2:46 pm

Top Skyhawk — UT Martin basketball player Lester Hudson (right) was the recipient of the university's 2009 Bob Carroll Male Athlete of the Year Award. Bob Carroll (left), a former football coach at UTM, was on hand for the presentation.

MARTIN, Tenn. – Lester Hudson, a senior from Memphis on the Skyhawk basketball team, received the 2009 Bob Carroll Male Athlete of the Year Award at the Fourth Annual Senior Athlete Night at the University of Tennessee at Martin on Tuesday night. This is the second consecutive year Hudson has won this honor.
After being recognized as the Preseason Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, Hudson was named the OVC Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and was named to the All-OVC Tournament team. He also was on the All-OVC First Team.
Hudson was named as a Naismith Award and Wooden Award candidate and was one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. He was named Honorable Mention AP All-American for the second straight season and is the only UTM men’s Division I hoop  player named AP All-America.
This past season Hudson was named OVC Player of the Week seven times – including five consecutive weeks – both OVC records. He led the OVC in three categories (scoring, free-throw percentage, steals), and ranked in the top five in eight of the 13 statistical categories. He was the only NCAA Division I player to score at least 20 points in every game through his first 26 games this season and he was one of only 13 players in NCAA Division I to average 5+ points, 4+ rebounds, 4+ assists and 2+ steals per game.
He started in all 32 games, leading the team in scoring, rebounding, steals, blocks, minutes, field goals made, field goals attempted, 3-point field goals made, 3-point field goals attempted, 3-point field goal percentage, free throws made, free throws attempted, and free-throw percentage. Hudson trailed only Davidson’s Stephen Curry for the NCAA Division I scoring title with a 27.5 point-per-game average and was ranked 18th in the NCAA in 3-point field goals made per game (3.2).
Hudson eclipsed the 30-point plateau 11 times, and scored 40+ points twice. He scored 41 points at Central Arkansas on Dec. 31, then went off for a career-high 42 points on 15-of-24 shooting (8-of-13 from 3-point range) against Tennessee Tech in the OVC Tournament quarterfinals. He tallied 11 double-doubles, giving him 22 for his career, and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds against Morehead State on Feb. 28
Hudson opened the season with a 27-point, seven rebound, seven assist and eight steal effort against Maryville. He scored 30 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out seven assists and recorded eight steals against Tennessee State on Jan. 10.
In his final collegiate game, Hudson scored 33 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out seven assists in 40 minutes in an 87-82 loss at Auburn in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
The Senior Athlete Night recognized 73 seniors this year.