EASTON -- Thirty-four yards from tying the game and regaining momentum, as it had done brilliantly once earlier in Saturday afternoon's game, Bucknell needed someone to make a play.

Instead, Lafayette got one and seized control for good early in the third quarter of its 35-14 victory at Fisher Stadium.

Sophomore cornerback Brandon Ellis intercepted a Marcello Trigg pass intended Marlon Woods at the Leopards' 18-yard line. Thirteen plays later, Lafayette (7-1 overall, 3-0 Patriot League) scored the second of four consecutive touchdowns to start the second half to take a 21-7 lead.

Bucknell (3-5, 1-2) crept within 28-14 on a Trigg 4-yard run early in the fourth quarter, but Lafayette again drove the length of the field for the game-clinching score.

"We have to go out and play our best against the teams at the top of this league," Bison coach Tim Landis said. "Our room for error is very slim.

"We have to make plays when the opportunities present themselves, and today we didn't and they did."

After punting on its first five possessions of the game, Bucknell marched 73 yards in 15 plays to get the game-tying score, a 19-yard pass from Trigg to A.J. Kizekai, with 14 seconds left in the opening half.

Lafayette took the second-half kickoff and needed only six plays to cover 68 yards and take the lead for good (14-7) on a Rob Curley 13-yard pass to Michael Bolton.

Curley had a career day, completing 30 of 35 passes for a career-high 333 yards and two scores. He used seven receivers, getting a career-high nine catches from Mark Layton.

"My job is to get the ball out of my hands and to the guys who are faster and more talented than I am," Curley said after setting his career high for the second week in a row. "This is the kind of game I expected more of when I came to Lafayette."

Bucknell limited the usually efficient Lafayette ground game to just four yards on 13 carries in the first half. The Leopards had carries of 17 yards by Maurice White and 26 more from DeAndre Morrow on the first two offensive plays of the second half to set the tone.

"That was the one thing (at halftime) that, wow, really rubbed me the wrong way," Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said. "We wanted to establish the run again."

Once the running game got started, Curley ran the play-action and rollout pass plays to perfection. He completed 11 in a row at one point in the second half, and 19 out of 20 spanning the two halves.

"I read somewhere that someone said (Curley) manages the game," Landis said. "He's more than that. He's great with the play action and killed us with the crossing routes.

"And their receivers made plays. We dropped too many balls. That was frustrating. That has plagued us all year."

Lafayette took advantage of a short field after a shanked punt got the host started at the Bucknell 42-yard line. The Leopards scored five plays later on the first of fullback Jeff Cumming's two short touchdown runs 3 minutes, 32 seconds into the game.

But the Bison defense stiffened for the rest of the half, forcing three consecutive punts and a missed field goal. Linebacker Travis Nissley led the Bison with a career-high 15 tackles. Fellow linebacker Greg Jones added 12 and Jamal Briggs, getting his second consecutive start at cornerback, had 10.

Down 14-7 in the third, Bucknell got 42 yards on its first four plays to move to the Lafayette 34. After two incompletions, Trigg threw to Woods at the left hashmark, but Ellis came from behind to make the interception. It left Landis furious with the officials, looking for pass interference on the play.

"That is where the game turned," the Bucknell coach said.

Trigg completed 13 of a career-high 36 pass attempts for 195 yards and one score. He was picked off twice, sacked twice and pressured most of the day.

"It may have seemed like a lot of his throws were high," Landis said of his quarterback. "Some may wonder if it's because of his (injured) knee. There may be a little because of his knee, but you have to remember he's throwing with guys in his face and he's 5-10 ½. It's challenging for him."

Kizekai had 202 all-purpose yards, including a career-high 140 receiving yards on a career-high seven catches.