MANILA, Philippines – A career-best performance could not console Matthew Wright after Phoenix fell short against NLEX, 114-116, in the 2017 PBA Commissioner's Cup on Saturday.

Needing one more victory in order to secure a playoff berth, the Fuel Masters were instead shocked by the Road Warriors, who had entered Saturday's contest at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City with just one win to show in their past 10 games.

NLEX led 35-22 at the end of the opening quarter, and Phoenix was forced to play catch-up the rest of the way. Wright did all he can to bring the Fuel Masters back in the game, scoring a career-high 42 points, 30 of which came in the second half.

Yet they fell agonizingly short, with JR Quiñahan icing the victory for NLEX with three seconds left to make it 116-111, before Wright knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer to peg the final score.

• Read: NLEX scores first winning streak of the PBA season

"We didn't handle our business," Wright said shortly after the loss, which dropped their record to 4-7 at the end of the elimination round. "We didn't play like a team that's desperate for a win today."

Wright made 15 of his 25 shots in the game, including five of nine triples, while also adding five rebounds and four assists to his stat line. But only two of his teammates scored in double-digits, with RJ Jazul scoring 13, and import Jameel McKay adding 16 points and 14 boards.

Phoenix had trouble taking care of the ball, and their 21 turnovers in the game led to 31 points for NLEX. They could not stop Alex Mallari, who needed only 11 shots to score 22 points, while Wayne Chism had 20 points and 13 boards. Three other NLEX players finished in double-figures.

"We didn't play like a team," Wright said. "NLEX has no shot of making the playoffs, but they came out strong in the first quarter, scoring like 30-something points. I think that was the difference."

Of his scoring outburst – the most by a rookie since Eric Menk scored 43 points for Tanduay back in 1999 – Wright had little to say.

"I was just making shots in the third quarter, trying to keep my team within the game," he said. "My main focus was just trying to narrow the gap, because we were down double-digits the entire game."

Unfortunately for Wright and the Fuel Masters, they came up just short for the second straight contest. Phoenix had lost a nail-biter to Mahindra last May 21, which had put them in a must-win situation against the Road Warriors.

By losing their last two elimination round games, Phoenix is in danger of missing out on the quarterfinals, and must now hope that two other teams – Alaska and GlobalPort – will drop their final assignments just to force a triple-tie.

"Our playoff fate isn't in our hands anymore," said wright. "We gotta wait and see, hope for some teams to lose. But I don't really like it. I don't believe in that kind of fate."

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