Good Home Taranaki MountainAirs

MountainAirs snatch last second win

June 10, 2014 by Sharyn Smart

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With 25.3 seconds remaining on the clock and the score locked at 74-74, the very vocal Taranaki crowd at the TSB Stadium were on their feet encouraging The Good Home Taranaki MountainAirs as loudly as they could.

Airs’ Brad Anderson and Suleiman Braimoh took time to settle the team as the clock counted down. Great team work found Suleiman who put up an awesome winning shot from just inside the arc leaving 1.6 seconds on the clock.

The noise was deafening as the crowd celebrated whilst the Wellington Saints called a time-out.

Air’s captain Aaron Bailey-Nowell’s outstanding effort was rewarded as he intercepted a Saints pass creating a win for the Airs 76-74.

An Interview With Taranaki Standout Suleiman Braimoh

May 28, 2014 by Sharyn Smart

After being named Most Valuable Player of the NBL league for the fourth successive week Suleiman Braimoh of the Good Home Taranaki MountainAirs talks to Sharyn Smart about playing in New Zealand.

Sharyn Smart: The MountainAirs shoot the least of any NBL team from deep, and the most at the rim – is it hard sometimes as a big man to get clean shots when you have guys who like to get their shots inside, occasionally clogging the lane on offence?

Suleiman Braimoh: Sometimes it might be a little tough, a little clogged up in there for me but I think as a team we do a good job of distributing the ball. I think our teams passing is pretty good so even though we don’t shoot that well from deep I think we do good work inside so that makes up for it.

SS: Aled Jones does a great job of cutting underneath a player under the hoop.

SB: I think things like that, him cutting around and drawing attention from somebody else, I think our interior play is one of our strengths. We do a good job of getting it into the paint so I think we are getting better from shooting from deep but I think when we play from inside out that works to our advantage.

Mountain Air too thin for Rams

May 19, 2014 by Sharyn Smart

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The noise was deafening and the crowd were on their feet for the final 37.1 seconds of the game at the TSB Stadium in New Plymouth as the Good Home Taranaki MountainAirs held off the Rams to claim their fourth win.

With the score 93 – 90 the Rams’ foul count soared as they fought with desperation for the win. Both Marcel Jones and Matthew Rogers clocked up the fouls and were shown the door late.

The fouls kept coming for the Rams with Jeremy Kench the last of the night. Suleiman shot 1 from 2 to end the game 98 – 93 a fourth win in a row for the Airs with the crowd roaring their approval.

Airs’ Coach Daryn Shaw said he thought the Rams had stepped up and played a lot harder than previously.

“Canterbury is a really talented team. They have got some really good players. They certainly did some things that caused us to adjust for sure.”

“Our four main guys really came to the party and played really well at the critical moments. I think it was an exciting game and all the boys played well. They (Rams) threw a lot of hooks at us that made us adjust but I think we always just grind it out.”

‘AO’ comes up BIG for Airs

May 11, 2014 by Sharyn Smart

A 3 pointer by Derek Albertsen on the final buzzer completed a superb win for the Taranaki Good Home MountainAirs.

The Airs came out on fire only slowing slightly in the 4th quarter in front of their home crowd at the TSB stadium in New Plymouth.

Airs’ Adrian Oliver played his best game yet proving to critics he has found his “shooting mojo” with a massive 42 points with four from seven 3 pointers, 4 from 5 frees and 7 rebounds.

Coach Daryn Shaw was impressed with Oliver stepping up and delivering with the crowd also voicing their approval.

“We have put the heat on AO. He’s an outstanding shooter/scorer and we haven’t quite seen it. For him to come out tonight and really put on a great performance is not a surprise to him or to us.”

Good Home Taranaki MountainAirs -v- Nelson Giants

April 26, 2014 by Sharyn Smart

The absence of their captain Aaron Bailey-Knowles due to a one game suspension created a bigger workload for the young MountainAirs with Brad Anderson taking on captain duties.

Even though Braimoh Suleiman couldn’t train all week he did his job exceedingly well pulling in an impressive total of 15 rebounds and scoring 21 points. Not to be outdone Adrian Oliver had a strong game scoring 27 points with 7 from 11 frees and 2 very impressive steals reflected in the Airs’ 5 fast break points stats.

With the quarter time score 14 – 20 and then the half time score 30 – 38 the MountainAirs were very much in the game.

Kaye McKee had a super game with 12 points, drawing 5 fouls and 3 rebounds. The ball would just not sink for Brad Anderson as he missed two 3 pointers and netted 2 out of 10 field goals scoring 6 points.

Both Good Home Taranaki MountainAirs’ coach Daryn Shaw and Fico Finance Nelson Giants’ coach Liam Flynn had words with the referees with teams sent to the bench as a scoreboard dispute was settled.

Giants Jamal Boykin and Josh Pace dominated their team’s scoring with 20 points with 9 rebounds and 21 points with 6 rebounds respectively with Mika Vukona adding a further 14 points with 9 rebounds.

In the 3^rd quarter the MountainAirs found their rhythm surging ahead with 10 unanswered points. The crowd at the TSB Stadium went crazy sensing a comeback from the home team. Unfortunately it was short lived as the Nelson Giants fought back ending the quarter 69 – 56.