On the other hand, though, that same season, Aris was eliminated in the FIBA EuroCup by fellow Greek League club Maroussi, and it's rising star player, Vassilis Spanoulis. Aris lost the best of 3 games series, 2 games to 1, in the final eight round versus Maroussi. That same season, Aris was eliminated in the Greek Basket League playoffs by AEK Athens, who managed to beat Aris at Ivanofeio in the quarterfinals. The Greek League playoff loss to AEK knocked Aris out of a EuroLeague position for the next season. In the next season, Aris returned to its home arena, the newly renovated Alexandreio. Aris changed almost its entire squad that year, and added the young and talented player Sofoklis Schortsanitis. In October, Aris drew a bracket match up to play against Makedonikos in the Greek Cup semifinals. That season, there was no Final Four system, and the semifinal match up was a two-game series, rather than a single-elimination game. Aris had to play its "home" game in the match up at the Larissa Neapolis Arena, instead of at Alexandreio Melathron, as a punishment for what had happened at the previous Greek Cup final game against Olympiacos, where the fans of both clubs had gotten out of control. Aris lost the game in Larissa, the first in the 2 game series, 73–74. The second game was held in Kozani, at Makedonikos' home. Makedonikos decided to make tickets for the game unavailable to Aris supporters. Nonetheless, about 500 Aris fans went to Kozani, and were able to secure tickets. They cheered the club on, as it won the second game, by a score of 89–78, and Aris advanced to the Greek Cup final game, as it had outscored Makedonikos by 10 points over the two games, and thus won the tie breaker. Aris had to play the EuroLeague powerhouse Panathinaikos in the final. The Cup final took place at Irakleio, on Crete, and the Hellenic Basketball Federation decided not to allow any tickets to the game to be sold to the fans of the two teams, but instead only to the local people of the Irakleio area. However, about 150 Aris fans were able to manage their way into the arena, to help support the club.