MANILA, Philippines: Talent-wise, there's little doubt that NorthPort has all the materials needed to contend for the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup title.

The Batang Pier have a vastly-improved wingman in Arvin Tolentino, who has taken a more active role in leading the franchise this season.

And then there's former top rookie pick Joshua Munzon, who is starting to show his true worth in other aspects of his game.

Even come backing forward Will Navarro and this season's first-round draft pick Zavier Lucero are showing their true worth early in the All-Filipino conference, along with fellow rookies Cade Flores and Fran Yu.

Coach Bonnie Tan recognizes all these young talents that are at his disposal.

But being a team with a lot of young players, inexperience could be their biggest enemy as the team tries to reach its goal of making it all the way to a first-ever Philippine Cup Finals.

"We're still a young team. We still don't have the character to finish the game. We're still looking for the perfect endgame players," shared Tan, following his team's grind-out 112-104 overtime victory over Converge on Sunday.

Tan said the team sure needs more seasoning in order to learn. It's no wonder, games like the one NorthPort played last Sunday was a welcome sight for him.

"The last time when we played in overtime (against NLEX), we only scored two points (in the extension period) and we lost the game," recalled the NorthPort mentor. "But we made sure that won't happen again in our game (versus Converge). "I asked the players who wanted to get subbed out, no one wanted to give up."

Navarro and Flores played like veterans in the extra session, combining for 10 of the Batang Pier's 16 markers to sealed the team's first win, while dealing the FiberXers their second straight defeat in the All-Filipino conference.

Tan said given the huge number of talent at their disposal, it's imperative for him as coach to make sure he and the coaching staff make the right choices on who to field in at various junctures of the game.

"The advantage we have is, at least we have choices. Added talents in some positions," he said, noting the return of Navarro, who churned out a double-double effort of 16 points and 11 rebounds.

"The hardest part in coaching right now is how to get the right combination, and on our rotation, how we can control the playing minutes of the players."

The amiable NorthPort mentor explained that spreading the minutes is one thing he's trying to learn at this conference as he maximizes what Flores, Navarro, Lucero and Tolentino can do in the game.

With a few days of respite, Tan and the Batang Pier look to fine-tune their game further, before returning to action this Friday when they take on the Phoenix Fuel Masters, who are debuting on the young conference at the Araneta Coliseum.