Shatone Powers couldn’t make it to his intramural game Wednesday at the Campus Recreation Center.

The Huskies’ wide receiver had a more important game with the NIU men’s basketball team against Bowling Green, the MAC West’s top team.

Although Powers didn’t see any playing time, the good news is that both his teams won.

NIU men’s basketball coach Rob Judson added Powers to the squad Monday to fill Paige Paulsen’s spot on the roster.

“This is something new,” Powers said. “It’s going to be completely different from playing at the Rec. This is the first time I’ve played on a real team since high school.”

Paulsen is expected to miss the remainder of the season due to a concussion he suffered against Kent State on Feb. 6.

Judson thought Powers, who averaged 21.0 points as a senior at Riverside-Brookfield High School, mixed well with the team because he had played pick-up games with members of the team in the offseason.

“We really needed Shatone to practice,” Judson said. “Our team has good chemistry and we didn’t want someone to mess that up. [Football] Coach [Joe] Novak felt he had such a great attitude right now, and that it’d be good for the team.”

Judson plans to keep Powers on the team for the remainder of the season. The Huskies will play two games at home before starting the MAC tournament March 7.

Powers originally planned to play both sports when he came to NIU, but didn’t because he couldn’t keep his grades as high as he hoped.

As a starting wide receiver, Powers had four touchdowns and 248 yards this season.

Judson wasn’t sure whether Powers would play Sunday against Ball State.

Powers sat on the bench with his new teammates but didn’t end up playing in his first game as a college basketball player.

“It was exciting,” Powers said. “Just sitting on the bench I was getting really anxious.”