SANTA CRUZ >> Knox, Knox. Who’s there?

A dominant, 6-foot-8 offensive forward looking to kick the door to the NBA back open.

Kevin Knox II, the fourth-leading scorer in the NBA G League regular season, did Kevin Knox things on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, but the Warriors fell short in their bid to knock off the Stockton Kings, owner of the league’s best record, 125-121 in front of a sellout crowd of 2,476 fans at Kaiser Permanente Arena.

“Our execution was great,” said Nicholas Kerr, Santa Cruz’s second-year head coach. “Competed our (butts) off. I loved the fight, I loved the grit. We got down big and came up a little short.”

Knox, averaging 25.8 points through nine games, matched his season best of 39 points, accomplished on 13-of-23 shooting. He finished with four 3-pointers and pulled down nine rebounds.

Knox, the ninth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft out of Kentucky, scored 16 points in the second quarter and 23 in the first half. Those totals were the most in a quarter and half, respectively, by any Warrior this season.

“He was awesome,” Kerr said. “He’s done a great job with his cutting and with his quick decisions with the ball. And, obviously, he can make shots. He’s improved in those areas we just talked about, the cutting, you know, how can he be impactful without the ball in his hands. He’s gotten better defensively. Defense is his area where he can still get better to really stick in the NBA.”

As stellar as Knox was, he wasn’t the game’s leading scorer. Two-way forward Isaac Jones went off for a season-high 42 points for Stockton (8-2 overall).

The Warriors (6-3) had the cards stacked against them, because the Kings took the court holding four aces. In addition to Jones, the Kings had two other two-way players in their starting lineup, guard Mason Jones and forward Isaiah Crawford, as well as guard Colby Jones, who was on assignment from Sacramento.

Needless the say, it wasn’t easy for the Warriors to keep up with the Joneses, especially without the services of 7-foot, two-way center Quinten Post, who was back in San Francisco, playing for Golden State in its loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday.

“We’ve actually done a really good job the last few weeks of coming together, especially after that Tip-Off showcase,” Knox said. “After that, we came together off the court, doing a really good job of communicating more. Chemistry is building, so I think you can tell on the court we’re playing a lot better. We just gotta execute at the end, that’s all.”

Kerr wasn’t willing to call it a moral victory.

“No. Because we’re competitors,” he said. “And you should step on the court and think you should win every game, and we could’ve. We had a couple mental lapses late second and some in the early fourth. And if we don’t do that, we win. It doesn’t matter who is on the other team. In this league, we should’ve won.”

The Sea Dubs competed with solid showing on the glass and played team basketball on offense. Guard Yuri Collins dished out 14 of the Warriors’ 25 assists, and Jackson Rowe and reserve Donta Scott each had 10 rebounds, which helped Santa Cruz hold a 49-40 rebounding advantage.

Santa Cruz led by as many as eight points in the first quarter, but the Kings exploded for 44 points in the second quarter and carried a 67-61 lead into the half. The Warriors stayed within striking distance for much of the third quarter, but the Kings opened the fourth quarter with an 18-4 run.

Dexter Dennis’ 3-pointer with 7:20 remaining gave the Kings their largest lead of 17 points, 111-93, but the Warriors stormed back behind some late-game heroics from Blake Hinson and Collins.

Hinson made three 3s during the rally and Collins scored five field goals, including an and-one basket, and a free throw to narrow the Warriors’ deficit to one, 116-115, with 2:01 remaining.

Isaac Jones scored seven points over the next minute and 22 seconds, and Mason Jones also made a pair of free throws to put the Kings ahead 125-120 with 11.3 second left.

The Warriors received a dunk from Hinson and a 3-pointer from Knox over the final two minutes, but they also missed six shots during that costly stretch.

“Tough game,” Knox said. “They’ve got a really good team over there. They assigned some of their guys down, so we knew it was going to be a dogfight.”

Collins scored 21 points and had a double-double. Hinson scored 19 points in 27 minutes off the bench, and Rowe finished with 16 points and a double-double. Center Seth Maxwell had 12 points and seven rebounds, and a minus-16 plus/minus rating.

Mason Jones finished with 22 points and eight rebounds for the Kings. Dennis scored 19 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Colby Jones scored 12 points, and center Skal Labissiere chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds.

“Talent,” said Kerr, of the difference. “They just have a bunch of veteran G League players and two-ways and assignments on top of that. That’s as talented and as mature of a team as you’ll ever see in the G League.”