A star basketball player from Hudson County is set to play next year for Rutgers University, but he had to persevere to get there.

Paul Mulcahy enters his final basketball season at Gill Saint Bernard's, and he's met with a sense of urgency.

Mulcahy’s most painful loss came off the court about four years ago when firefighters responded to a five-alarm fire at his home in Bayonne.

His house burned down, and the six kids, two parents and two grandparents who lived there had nowhere to go, at least in the moment.

The family has been living in a new home for a little more than a year, in part because of local communities that helped them raise more than $75,000.

Mulcahy was first-team all-state as a sophomore and junior, and just last month he signed an official scholarship to play for Rutgers.

He believes their program is on the rise.