3-whistle coverage in transition

[ChuckElias]

Situation: Long rebound results in a fast break the other way. The players are basically 1-on-1. The drive to the basket begins on the Center's (or Slot's) side of the floor. There is contact on the low block on the Center's side of the lane.

Question: Who should have a whistle on this? Who should have the first whistle?

In this situation, where I am the Lead and the play clearly originates on the C's side of the floor and the contact is on the C's side of the floor, it is always my habit NOT to have a whistle unless one of the players gets killed. In my mind, that's the C's (or Slot's) call all the way. I mean, that's why we have a center official, right?

But at my last scrimmage, we had the above scenario occur. Observer told me that in a 1-on-1 in transition, the Lead should just take the call, even if it's the first whistle. Treat it as Lead's primary in this particular situation. This advice came from a very very good D1 NCAA official (has even worked the tournament). But I don't like the advice, so I would just like to hear the consensus of people who work 3-whistle. Any thoughts?

Chuck