MANILA: Gilas Pilipinas coach Tab Baldwin wanted some intensity and international feel.

He got both from a hard-fighting Wellington Saints of New Zealand side and saw — again — how his Nationals respond when their backs are against the wall.

The Filipinos repeated over the Saints in an eight-day span, doing it yet again in the same come-from-behind manner but with a new hero that was absent when Gilas first conquered the Kiwis in overtime in Taipei.

Terrence Romeo scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth period on Saturday night and keyed an 84-81 victory that gave Gilas Pilipinas the title in the MVP Cup Invitational even with still a game left at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Romeo, who sat out a 92-88 overtime victory over the Kiwis in the Jones Cup because of a left ankle sprain, drilled all of his four triples in the fourth and nailed two free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining to round out scoring.

Team Philippines roared back from 13 points down late in the third period and from 59-71 with 8:07 left, rewriting basically the same script it played out in the Jones Cup when the Filipinos rallied from 16 points down behind three men – Jason Castro, Asi Taulava and Dondon Hontiveros.

Baldwin admitted failing to get the shooting mileage he needed from his Jones Cup heroes and not calling on Romeo a bit earlier.

“Sometimes you have to find a way because we couldn’t get shots,” Baldwin said. “Del (Ranidel de Ocampo) couldn’t hit (his shots), Jason (Castro) couldn’t hit, Dondon (Hontoveros) couldn’t hit. It was just one of those games.”

“But then (Terrence) Romeo got hot,” Baldwin added, his face lighting up when he talked of the new darling of Philippine basketball. “And it probably took me a little too long to make that adjustment.”

The game against the Kiwis was a far cry from the 93-77 win over Talk ‘N Text on Friday night, when both teams — maybe because of being friends with one another —played a true exhibition game and didn’t push at all.

“It’s great to get a win (like this one),” Baldwin said. “I told everybody that New Zealand is tough.”

Gilas will still play winless Chinese Taipei at 5 p.m. on Sunday and regardless of the result, will win the title in the four-team pocket tournament.

The Taiwanese, who finished third behind Iran and the Filipinos in the Jones Cup, took a 91-99 loss at the hands of Talk ‘N Text earlier in the night for a 0-2 card.

Talk ‘N Text got 20 points and 13 rebounds from Moala Tautuaa and 19 points and nine boards from fellow PBA rookie Troy Rosario.

The Nationals will then go into seclusion starting Monday, flying to Cebu to go to a rigorous camp before leaving later next week for Changsha in China to aim for the lone Olympic slot in the Fiba-Asia Championship.

Andray Blatche, the Philippines' naturalized player who is cramming to get back in shape, played a lot better, shooting 16 points and playing with a lot of hustle and intensity in helping offset the huge size advantage the Kiwis had on the Filipinos.

“Their big men were really a handful,” Baldwin said.

Kevin Braswell, the playing coach who elected to sit himself out in the Jones Cup loss, played the whole game and paced the Kiwis with 25 points and five assists.

He wanted to play against the Philippines, first, because leading scorer Eric Davenport had to fly back to New Zealand on Friday and he wanted to see what the fuss on Romeo during the Jones Cup was all about

But the former New Zealand national player committed a night-high eight turnovers, two of them coming in the fourth period during the time the Filipinos were making their move.

From that 12-point deficit in the fourth, Romeo hit two straight triples for a 78-76 lead going into the final 3:06.