By Brian Gupton, Staff Writer — Imagine playing in an arena that holds 20,000 people. Continue to imagine that this is also the place where superstar NBA players play every week ,which include Lebron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith. For the Eagles basketball team this is a reality.

Jan. 27 the Eagles took on the Stow Bulldogs at the Quicken Loans arena located in Cleveland, Ohio. This opportunity is only given to two teams each year and thanks to GlenOak alumni CJ Mccollum, who now plays for the Trailblazers, and the Basketball Booster Club that was possible.

The reason for the Cleveland Cavaliers to allow two teams each year to play at the Quicken Loans Arena (The Q) dates back to when Lebron left the Cavs some years ago. Knowing that this would drive ticket sales down the Cavs allowed teams to play at the Quicken Loans Arena for a certain price which helped with ticket sales.

“CJ Mccollum was the one who suggested GlenOak to play on that night,” Athletic Director Scott Garcia said. The Trailblazers were playing Cleveland that night.

CJ went on to even talk to the boys after the game which went really well with the current players.

“ It was really sweet. He was very social with everybody even though he’s a big NBA player he still gives back to us,” varsity basketball player Brandon Grider said.

Meeting CJ was one thing, but playing at the Q is another. The basketball team was very excited to have this opportunity and losing wasn’t that harsh seeing has how they played where Lebron plays, and got into the Cavaliers vs. Trailblazers game for free. CJ also donates money back to the program from time to time.

“It was amazing. Just a great opportunity for us to play” Grider said.

This was also the night Kyrie Irving scored 55 points beating his career high.Final score of the GlenOak game was 49-36 with Stow being the winners.

[Updated Aug. 8, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]