He’s Boston College’s version of Rudy, perhaps – the walk-on basketball player who wasn’t even good enough to make his high school basketball team.That was quite a while ago – back in his junior year at St. John’s Prep. A lot has happened to Nick Mosakowski since then.But the biggest thing for the Swampscott resident is that he clawed his way into making the Boston College men’s basketball team as a walk-on after testing his mettle over the summer by playing some cutthroat pickup.Why do it? Especially if, as Mosakowski says, he had chances to play – and start – in a lot of Division 3 schools.”Because I really liked BC,” he said.Well, then, he must really like basketball to do all that work in order to play only when his team’s 20 up or 20 down.”Absolutely,” he says. “There’s no other reason why I’d do it.”Mosakowski’s journey to the big time had its ups and downs – particularly this past summer when he broke his arm playing pickup at Swampscott’s Phillips Park.”I don’t know ? I was playing with some guys I don’t know, and my legs got caught up with another guy’s and I went down. It set me back for about six weeks, but I got right back to training again.”Not making the St. John’s basketball team as a junior could be considered a setback too. But Mosakowski turned it into a plus. He went to Pingree, repeated his junior year, and ended up playing and starting for the varsity there.”I have to say that I’ve improved an awful lot since I was at St. John’s,” Mosakowski said. “But I was able to go to Pingree, and play for coach Steve Gibbs, and it was a great experience.”Gibbs runs the Hoop Mountain basketball program, “and he had a lot of camps. A lot of college coaches got to see me, so the experience turned out well ? and I got into BC.”About BC: Last year, as a freshman, Mosakowski, a 6-1 guard, devoted his entire first semester just to studying and adjusting to campus life. But by the second semester, he was itching to play.”By then,” he said, “I’d go to the Plex (the Yawkey Athletic Center) and a lot of the guys from the football team would be there playing.”A lot of those guys ? they could be playing college ball, too,” Mosakowski said. “And I found I was holding my own against those guys.”One person who kept coming out to those games was Doug Flutie.”I’ve played against him four or five times,” said Mosakowski. “He’s in great shape for 40-something ? phenomenal shape. Everybody likes playing against him. He’s a real competitor.”Mosakowski says he played particularly well in one of those games – and against top-caliber competition (including backup quarterback Dominique Davis), and that led him to believe he should try to make the team as a walk-on.”I figured why I can’t I take it up to another level,” he said. “(Assistant) Coach (Mo) Cassera is a family friend, and when I got to BC he talked to me about being a part of the team, doing film, stuff like that,” Mosakowski said.”But after that, we talked about actually trying out,” Mozakowski said.Then, he broke his arm.”It was tough, but it didn’t set me back too much,” he said. “When I got back, I started playing with the guys on the team ? playing pickup, even scrimmaging against them ? and I must have made a good impression, because I’m the one they kept.”He’s realistic. He knows he won’t be out there as long as the game’s on the line. But he’s seen some action – in 90-57 win at the Heights over Loyola Maryland.”I got a big ovation, and it was a big thrill,” he said. “All my friends were in the stands, and they were yelling, ‘put in the walk-on.”If he doesn’t get in again anytime soon, it won’t be a huge tragedy, he says.”I’m doing what I love,” he said, “and I’m at school I love. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”