The Santa Cruz Warriors forward Kevin Knox (31) was a force by himself leading the Warriors in scoring against the Stockton Kings forward Isaac Jones (3) forward and guard Jon Elmore (33) at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz on Mon Jan 20, 2025 (Santa Cruz X photo)

By Morris Phillips

It was a Martin Luther King Holiday that the sell out crowd of 2476 in attendance at the Kaiser Permanente Arena wanted to have something to take away from. The Santa Cruz Warriors (6-3) almost delivered coming back from 17 points behind in the fourth quarter but just couldn’t hang on and ended up bowing to the visiting Stockton Kings (8-2) who are having a bang up season 125-121 on Monday.

The Warriors forward Kevin Knox II led with 39 points and nine rebounds. Getting his third double-double for the campaign with guard Yuri Collins and scored 23 points the most for the 2024-25 season Collins also chalked up 14 assists and stole the ball twice.

The Warriors forward Blake Hinson came off the bench to score 19 points and scored his most points of this season so far. Hinson was five for nine behind the three point line and doing it all coming off the bench. Forward Jackson Rowe grabbed ten rebounds, 16 points, and had five assists. The Warriors also got help from center Seth Maxwell who scored 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Warriors tried coming back in the fourth quarter down 17 points 110-93. Hinson threw up back to back three point shots and the Warriors were within single digits. Collins got a hot hand and scored 11 points and closed the gap on the Kings within one point 116-115 with just two minutes left in the game. The effort was not to be for Santa Cruz with 12.2 seconds left the Warriors had the ball but couldn’t get the lead and fell to the Kings in a four point deficit.

The Warriors will try to turn the page on this loss and are heading to San Diego to face the Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Wed Jan 22 for a 7:00pm PST tip. The Warriors return to Santa Cruz for a two game set with the Salt Lake City Stars on Fri Jan 24 and Sat Jan 25 at Kaiser Permanente Arena.