Timing snafu

[BloggingRefGuy]

Eleven seconds left in the half. White in-bounds. They run it down the court, pass it twice, and score. Blue in-bounds. They run it up the court, and there's a blocking foul on White. There are three seconds on the clock.

Just about everybody turns to me and says that the clock started late. Neither my partner nor I picked it up. (I know--that's our error. I've already beat myself up pretty bad about that, so you don't have to.)

I go to the table. She says she started the clock more than three seconds late.

The rule, of course, is that I as an official need to have definite knowledge to correct a timing error. If the timer seems confident about what went wrong, can that count?

Which of these is the least-bad option?

--Say I have no definite knowledge and give Blue their one-and-one with three seconds on the clock

--Say that there should be three seconds run off the clock, but that I've called the foul, so it stands; clear the lane and give blue their one-and-one

--Say that the clock should have run off before the foul--vacate the foul and start halftime.

Thanks in advance. Trust me--I won't be going down this road again.