Knocking down shots under the lights of Municipal Auditorium is nothing new to Mose Howard. He did it during the 2004-05 season as a member of UMKC’s team before transferring to Northwest.

So it was fitting that in the arena he used to call home, Howard played for the first time in more than a month and helped propel Northwest into the MIAA championship game for the first time in four years.

Howard hasn’t been on the floor since Jan. 30 and underwent knee surgery last month, but with the Bearcats trailing by six to a team they already lost to twice this season, coach Steve Tappmeyer called on Howard.

Less than five minutes later, Howard delivered, sinking a 3-pointer with 5:41 left to give Northwest its first lead since the 16:41 mark of the first half. Howard only played eight minutes, and that was the only shot he hit, though Howard did add a steal and an assist. But the spark he provided doesn’t show up in box scores.

“Mose has been in (the training room) every day twice a day. Everybody sitting on that bench wants to play,” Northwest guard Andy Peterson said. “To see Mo come in calm and collected and make that first shot, it’s big. From my point of view, building a house with all the (bricks I’ve shot). It’s huge. It’s momentum stuff. As much as we try to keep it in between the lines and control stuff, you get a shot like that and go up and hear however many thousand people go crazy and get the momentum going, you feed off of that. It was a huge play.”

Howard has been conditioning on an elliptical machine but said that can’t quite prepare you for a game. Still, it’s a good sign that Howard said the knee felt good, and even if he can only provide that boost for 8 to 10 minutes a game, it’s invaluable for this Northwest team.

“We have a good two-guard rotation, and I am just trying to work myself back in there,” Howard said. “We’ve been playing good. But I was just happy I got in the floor.”

And out of all the games Howard has played in Municipal, Saturday’s contest provided him with one of his better memories of the venue.