BLOOMINGTON— By the time the crowd of 17,222 at Assembly Hall was done feting Anthony Leal Tuesday night with a final cheer as his point total was announced, Indiana University could probably have sold thousands of bobbleheads portraying the 6-foot-5 senior guard.

For four years, Leal has persevered as a forgotten man on the IU bench, a one-time high school Indiana Mr. Basketball whose college career was marked by many DNP designations in box scores, as in Did Not Play.

But boy, he played this night in an adventurous, somewhat epic Hoosier, 74-68, Big Ten Conference victory over Iowa, scoring 13 points, many coming in clutch situations while gathering 7 rebounds.

This was the college game of Leal’s life, with a more dramatic exclamation point punctuated because he is a Bloomington South grad who stayed home to play. And then he disappointingly found his butt shunted farther and farther down the bench by the coach of the moment, first Archie Miller and then Mike Woodson.

Tuesday, Woodson was Leal’s patron saint, playing him for more than 21 minutes as the walking-wounded Hoosiers ended a three-game losing streak (all to nationally ranked league teams) while stifling a high-scoring Iowa team that was averaging 85 points a game.

When the Hoosiers (13-8) walked off the court into the locker room, Woodson had a present for Leal.

“I gave him the game ball after the game,” Woodson said. “I thought he was huge.”

The first boost for IU occurred when 7-foot sophomore Ke’lel Ware was in uniform after spending the last two games in a walking boot with an injury. Ware was literally and physically huge himself with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Criticized for being shaky on defense and unable to hit three-pointers (0-for-9 last Saturday versus Illinois), the Hoosiers took an early blow when sophomore Malik Reneau, the team’s high scorer, hit the deck with a leg injury of undetermined damage 2 ½ minutes into the game. He never returned.

Later, point guard Xavier Johnson incurred what might be his third serious injury in the last year. He was helped to the locker room holding his arm after scoring 9 points.

Demonstrating heart and grit and leaving some observers goggle-eyed as Woodson seemed to place round pegs in square holes to form patchwork lineups, Indiana led by as many as 17 points in the first half.

Then the Hoosiers saw the entire lead evaporate, but dug in and tied the game a couple of times and made the big plays needed in the closing minutes to survive.

IU held the Hawkeyes (12-9) to 35.4 percent shooting and out-rebounded them 45-32. This night the Hoosiers made eight three-pointers. Freshman McKenzie Mgbako made two and scored 11 points and Leal was three-for-four beyond the arc.

Ware clogged the middle on defense and made eight out of 10 shots. Any time he dunked, on an inside play, or a rebound follow-up, the crowd went berserk.

“We needed him back in the worst way,” Woodson said. “Games like this, man, it’s huge for our ball club. He gets 23 and 10 and three blocks. We were missing his length and ability to block shots.”

For a career back-up, Leal has an enthusiastic following. He is a local guy who grew up in Bloomington rooting for IU. With the loosening of transfer rules he could have jumped to another school, but chose to stay home.

Leal made national news last year when he spent his Name, Image and Likeness athletic paying off his older sister’s college loans. These days Leal is involved in Project 44, in association with the national bone marrow registry, an effort begun to honor former Butler player Andrew Smith who died young from cancer.

Leal has not been tempted to flee to another program. He always hoped there would be IU moments to savor.

“In that time of waiting it’s really been great for me in terms of my faith and just growing closer to God and trusting him and his timing,” Leal said.

“But I think just really coming to work every day and understanding, like, me just putting this jersey on for practice, even, is more than a dream come true. It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was first touching a basketball.”

Taking a star turn against Iowa with critical jumpers, as well as making the game-clinching free throws in the last seconds was Leal’s reward.