YOUNGSTOWN — Francisco Santiago has a 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio, so he’s quite aware of how every possession is vital.

So is giving up offensive rebounds.

“When we give up a lot of offensive rebounds, we tend to lose those games,” said the Youngstown State University men’s basketball starting point guard. “If we don’t take care of the ball, we tend to lose those games. When we look and cut people’s second-chance points and points off turnovers, we’re always in the the game or always win the game.”

Heading into tonight’s game at the Beeghly Center against Oakland (16-7, 6-4 Horizon League), the Penguins (10-13, 4-6) know they must control this aspect to be competitive with the Golden Grizzlies and have a chance to win two straight.

On Saturday, YSU hosts ninth-place Detroit (5-17, 3-7) — a team that recently beat second-place Green Bay and soundly defeated the Penguins earlier this season. Tipoff for both games is at 7 p.m.

“There’s a couple of stat lines that are imperative to win basketball games in this conference — one of those is your assist-to-turnover ratio,” said YSU coach Jerry Slocum, whose team is second in the league in that category. “Felt very fortunate against Cleveland State. I don’t think we played very good. We had too many turnovers (15). I thought we played with great character and toughness, but I don’t think we played a good X and O game.

“I think we shot the ball at times well. I think we took care of the ball at times well, but we’ve always been in the top third in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. It’s a huge, huge stat. That’s going to going to be key in the Detroit game. They beat Green Bay (Sunday) and forced Green Bay into 26 turnovers.”

The Penguins are tied with Milwaukee for seventh place in the league standings. YSU is a game out of fifth place and two out of third where Oakland and Wright State are tied at 6-4.

If the Penguins have any aspirations of getting into the top half of the league, they must be better defensively — like they were Saturday in a 67-64 home win over Cleveland State.

Santiago said that process is pretty simple.

“A lot of our wins, we didn’t play great defensively, but we played together defensively,” he said. “At Wright State, we played well defensively where everybody is helping each other. Even against Akron, everybody is helping each other. Saturday was the same thing. Then there is games we lost.

“We’re watching film. We’re not helping each other in gaps. We’re not helping each other on drives, and everybody is getting what they want. We can help each other when we’re playing together defensively. We’re able to get stops in big-time moments. A lot of games we’ve lost, we haven’t been able to do that. We have to be consistent in every game and do that.”

Slocum agreed with his point guard’s assessment.

“That’s fundamental as basketball 101, help your teammate, get in gaps, do all those kind of things,” he said. “I really think at Green Bay, at Milwaukee, obviously the Cleveland State game, we’ve done a really good job defensively. I thought we’ve done a pretty good job on the glass, rebounding the basketball. I think that could be better at times.”

Oakland has the second-most rebounds in the Horizon League. YSU has to rely on post players like Jorden Kaufman, Braun Hartfield and Devin Haygood to be productive on the glass.

“Our post defense and rebounding the basketball is huge in this game,” Slocum said.