NGINX adding filename.php alias issue

I am trying to add phpfilename with .php extension.
My partial NGINX configuration is:

server {
    set $MAGE_ROOT /home/user/public_html;
    root $MAGE_ROOT/pub;

    location / {
        root $MAGE_ROOT;
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
    }

    location /pub/ {
        ...
        alias $MAGE_ROOT/pub/;
        add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    }

    location ~ (index|get|static|report|404|503|phpfilename)\.php$ {
        fastcgi_intercept_errors off;
        try_files $uri =404;

        fastcgi_pass $PHPFMSOCK_LOC;
        fastcgi_buffers 1024 4k;

        fastcgi_read_timeout 600s;
        fastcgi_connect_timeout 600s;
        fastcgi_index  index.php;

        include        fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param  PHP_FLAG  "session.auto_start=off \n suhosin.session.cryptua=off";
        fastcgi_param  PHP_VALUE "memory_limit=768M \n max_execution_time=18000";
        fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }

    location ~* (\.php$|\.htaccess$|\.git) {
        deny all;
    }

}

Option 1 (FAIL):
Placing file in to the root /home/user/public_html/
Output: No input file specified.

Option 2 (FAIL):
Placing file in to the pub folder /home/user/public_html/pub/
Output: No input file specified.

Option 3 (SUCCESS):
Placing same duplicate file in to the root AND pub folders
/home/user/public_html/
/home/user/public_html/pub/
Output: page file contents.

Environment:
Magento 2.2.0
Nginx nginx/1.9.14
Cpanel with Centos 6
PHP 7.0.24
php.ini cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0

Iv been trying all insane dated and outdated ways all day since morning, and still unable to figure out the proper way. Any suggestions will be really appreciated. Thank you.